Sergio Garcia blamed a dodgy lasagne after the veteran Spaniard fell short in his attempt to qualify for the Open.
The 46-year-old, twice a runner up at the major, had been hoping to come through a 36-hole shootout at West Lancashire Golf Club to secure one of the 15 spots on offer at Royal Birkdale.
But having made a strong start with a four-under round of 68, Garcia faded from contention as a second-round 75 ended his chances of featuring 30 years on from his first Open appearance.
A demanding day of two rounds left Garcia in need of sustenance halfway through, and the 2017 Masters winner believes he may have erred in his choice of dish.
“I only ate the lasagne,” Garcia said. “I thought ‘have a little pasta’, but for some reason it didn’t sit well with me and I just felt nauseous the whole front nine of the afternoon.
“I felt like I was going to vomit pretty much on every hole and I thought about stopping. But I thought, well, let’s play a couple more and see if I get something going, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.
“When I was feeling healthy today I hit a lot of good shots. Even on the second nine of the afternoon, when I kind of started feeling a bit better again, I hit a lot of good shots. But those first nine holes killed me
“It’s a shame. When you’re this age and you’re playing 36 holes you need to eat 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. You come all the way here to give it your best shot and I was not feeling 100 per cent there… it hurts a lot.”
Sam Bairstow topped the leaderboard at West Lancs to earn a spot at Birkdale in little more than a fortnight, with Garcia’s compatriot and fellow LIV Golf player Josele Ballester also earning a spot.
Caleb Surratt, a teammate of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton’s on the rebel series, was among those to qualify at Burnham & Berrow, while Bard Bjornevik Skogen will make his major debut after finishing -12 at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal.
