The PGA Championship still needs to be decided Sunday. But not long after the Wanamaker Trophy is handed out at Oak Hill, the attention turns to the year’s next men’s major: the U.S. Open, set for June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club. On Monday, one of the USGA’s 13 36-hole Final Qualifiers is held at Northwood Club and Bent Tree in Dallas, and the field has a host of recognizable names competing (see tee times here), including one very familiar notable: Sergio Garcia.
The 43-year-old Spaniard was not in the field this week in Rochester, N.Y., the first major Garcia had failed to qualify for since playing in the 1999 PGA at Medinah as a 19-year-old. Garcia, the 2017 Masters winner who jumped to the LIV Golf League last summer, has fallen to No. 200 in the Official World Golf Ranking, limiting his ability to earn exemptions into the men’s majors based off his ranking.
While Garcia has competed in 23 U.S. Opens, with a career best finish of T-3 coming at Pinehurst in 2005, this is not the first time he has had to play his way in through qualifying. In 2011, Garcia got through a 7-for-4 playoff to advance to Congressional Country Club.
Garcia isn’t the only LIV golfer who is a former major winner competing on Monday. Graeme McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champion, is also trying to play his way into the 2023 Open at LACC. The Irishman’s 10-year exemption for winning at Pebble Beach ran out in 2021, and a year ago he also entered Final Qualifying in hopes of playing his way into major field. McDowell, 43, hasn’t played in any major since the 2020 Masters.
Two other LIV golfers are listed as playing in Dallas: Thomas Pieters, who is finishing up the final round at Oak Hill, and Branden Grace. All told, 25 LIV golfers filed entries to try to qualify for this year’s U.S. Open, with 24 playing in the remaining Final Qualifiers, 10 of which take place on June 5.
Seven LIV golfers are currently exempt into the championship, with a handful of others likely to get in by being in the top 60 in the World Ranking on Monday. (Pieters might be among them, in which case he would not have to play in Dallas.)
LIV Golf’s next tournament his this coming week at Trump National outside Washington, D.C.