Sergio Garcia missed out on a spot at the U.S. Open on Monday after being eliminated in a seven-player playoff for six spots at the Dallas Athletic Club.
The Spaniard bogeyed the first hole of the playoff, relegating everyone to the second hole at Pinehurst as all the other players made birdies or pars.
But Garcia doesn’t get too down on himself. The United States Golf Association (USGA) lists Garcia as the first alternate for this year’s U.S. Open, which will be played at No. 2 Pinehurst. That means if someone withdraws or misses the championship, Garcia will be there.
Nico Echavarria of Colombia, who won the 2023 Puerto Rico Open, won the local qualifying round in Dallas with a score of 7 under after playing 36 holes. At the Dallas Athletic Club he had 11 spots contested, with players competing on both the blue course and the golf course.
The other 10 players from Dallas who qualified are:
- McClure Meisner (Dallas, Texas)
- Eugenio López Chacala (Spain)
- Takumi Kanaya (Japan)
- Francesco Molinari (Italy)
- Brandon Wu (Scarsdale, New York)
- Michael McGowan (Southern Pines, North Carolina)
- Parker Bell (a) (Tallahassee, Florida)
- SH Kim (Korea)
- Sung Kang (Korea)
- Logan McAllister (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
The USGA also held two other final qualifying events on Monday, one in Japan and one in England.
At Hino Golf Club in Shiga Prefecture, just east of Kyoto, 34 players competed for three spots to play in the U.S. Open. Ryo Ishikawa and Riki Kawamoto finished as co-medalists, posting a score of 9 under through 36 holes and earning their ticket to No. 2 at Pinehurst.
Five players finished at 8 under, making it a 5-1 playoff between the third-place players. Japan’s Taisei Shimizu defeated four other players, including LIV Golf’s Scott Vincent (Zimbabwe).
And at Walton Heath Golf Club in England, where the AIG Women’s Open Championship was held last summer, 102 players competed for nine spots in the U.S. Open.
Many famous athletes participated in this preliminary round, including Alex Fitzpatrick, who appeared in the Netflix drama series “Full Swing.” However, Fitzpatrick missed out on his first U.S. Open appearance, which his older brother Matt won at Brookline in 2022.
At the top of the leaderboard at 10 under after 36 holes were Grant Forrest, Richard Mansell and Brandon Robinson-Thompson.
Sam Bairstow and 47-year-old Robert Locke also finished one stroke behind to qualify.
The full list of Walton Heath qualifiers is below.
- Grant Forest (Scotland)
- Richard Mansell (UK)
- Brandon Robinson Thompson (England)
- Sam Bairstow (England)
- Robert Locke (England)
- Tom McKibbin (Northern Ireland)
- Edoardo Molinari (Italy)
- Jason Skreiner (Australia)
- Matteo Manassero (Italy)
Final qualifying for the U.S. Open will continue at 10 venues on Monday, June 3, dubbed “Golf’s Longest Day.” It will be held on the Monday after the final round of the RBC Canadian Open.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough He covers more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
