Garcia heading to US Open as McDowell lets slip LA Country Club tee time

Fatiha Betscher
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Sergio Garcia (Image: Charles Laberge/LIV Golf)

Fatiha Betscher

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Former Masters champion Sergio Garcia is all set to contest a 24th consecutive US Open after posting back-to-back 66s at a sectional qualifier in northern Dallas to qualify for next month’s championship in suburban LA,

Garcia, 43, shared fourth place among the eight leading qualifiers following two rounds of the Bent Tree and Northwood courses to the north of the Texas city.

Included in Garcia’s afternoon 18 holes was an opening bogey but with the Spaniard then posting a 14th hole eagle along with three birdies on the Northwood course.

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Garcia did not qualify for the recent PGA Championship at Oak Hill, which was the first major championship he wasn’t eligible for since the 1999 U.S. Open. Since the 1999 Open, he had only missed one other major: the 2020 Masters, when he had COVID-19.

Garcia has five career top-10s in the U.S. Open, with his best finish a tie for third at Pinehurst in 2005.

McDowell, winner of the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach, was also out in the morning on the Bent Tree course producing eight birdies in a sizzling seven-under 64 but the similar aged 43-year-old could not repeat that form in the afternoon over the Northwood course.

McDowell’s second round score of 70 included a great start of three birdies in his opening five holes but he then posted back-to-back bogeys at eight and nine while also dropping a shot on 16 to finish with a level par 70 to stay at seven-under.

His effort was two shots shy of the 132 two-round total qualifying mark.

McDowell was looking to contest a first US Open since 2020 following the end of his 10-year exemption in becoming the first European in 40-years to capture the US Open on Father’s Day in 2010.

Heading the eight qualifiers was American Carson Young, winning the qualifier by five shots with scores of 63 and 62.

Others missing out on securing a US Open tee-time was American Ryan Palmer and the US-based Scottish pair of Russell Knox and Martin Kaymer.

Irish amateur Luke O’Neill produced scores of a pair of 73s and a five-over total to also miss out.

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