Despite saying that he was not going to attempt to qualify for the 2011 edition of the British Open, Sergio Garcia earned admittance and will run his streak to 49 consecutive appearances in golf’s Majors. Garcia earned his spot by finishing second in last week’s BMW International Open on the European tour, falling to Pablo Larrazabal on the fifth hole of a playoff.
British Open 2011: Sergio Garcia Qualifies For Field After Late Push
“I would love to have won the tournament, but my main goal was to qualify for The Open and I’ve done that,” he said.
Garcia, as has been well documented, was once considered a contender to Tigers Woods’ spot as the world’s top golfer. The Spaniard made his Top 10 debut as a 20-year-old in 2000 and spent the next seven years there, but could never quite break through. Despite winning 15 times on the U.S. and European tours and finishing second in three Majors, he never was able to win on golf’s biggest stages. His best finish at the British Open was a second-place in 2007 when he led after each of the first three rounds and carried a three-stroke lead into the final day, but fell a stroke short after needing to par the final hole at Carnoustie.
His last win came three years ago in the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar, which gave him a career-high World Golf Ranking of No. 3. But his career quickly unraveled after that to the point that he recently took several months off, causing him to fall out of the top 50 of the golf rankings, which would have given him automatic entry into the majors.
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