Sergio Garcia, for 18 holes, was eating up West Lancashire Golf Club.
Then he said lunch did him in.
Playing a final qualifying event on Tuesday for the Open Championship in two weeks, Garcia shot a four-under 68 over his first 18 holes of the 36-hole tournament, then followed with a 75 to finish seven strokes back of an Open spot. And a reason for the seven-shot difference between rounds?
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Lasagna, Garcia told on-site reporters afterward.
“I thought maybe have a little pasta and stuff,” he said, “but for some reason it didn’t sit well with me, and I just felt nauseous the whole front nine. In the afternoon, I felt like I was going to vomit pretty much on every hole.”
The 2017 Masters winner and LIV Golf player has appeared in 26 Open Championships and has finished runner-up twice. He has played in Open final qualifying three of the past four years and has yet to advance; last year, he played in the Open through a LIV Golf exemption.
“I felt like I played well this morning. I had a nice finish, and I had things going a little bit,” Garcia told reporters. “I had a little bit of food there in the player’s lounge, and it did not sit well with me.
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“I struggled very much in my first nine holes in the afternoon — nauseous and I felt like I was going to puke pretty much every single hole. So obviously that made it very difficult for me to concentrate on what I wanted to do, which was play well and give myself a chance, and I thought about stopping after nine.
“I thought, let’s play a couple more and see if I can get something going and a miracle happens. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”
By not qualifying, Garcia will finish the major year with one appearance, at the Masters, where he finished 52nd. During the final round at Augusta National, the Spaniard smashed the tee box and a cooler stand on the 2nd hole after his tee shot, leading to a code of conduct warning from the Masters. That followed an outburst at last year’s Open, where he also smashed his driver on the 2nd hole during the final round.
Looking to next year, Garcia told reporters on Tuesday he hopes to be ranked in the top 50 in the world “and then I won’t have to worry about coming in and qualifying.”
“I’m still working hard,” he said. “I felt like today, when I was feeling healthy, when I was feeling well, I felt pretty good. I hit a lot of good shots this morning. And even on the second nine, when I kind of felt a little bit better again, I hit a lot of good shots. But obviously those first nine holes kind of killed me.
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“It’s a shame. It’s tough. When you’re this age and you’re playing 36 holes, you feel like you need to eat a little bit in between the rounds, and you do that and it doesn’t sit well with you and you’re struggling with your stomach pretty much the whole second round, it’s tough.
“Because you come all the way here to give it your best shot and not feeling 100 percent there, it hurts a lot.”
For a look at Open final qualifying scores, please click here.
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