Garcia Falls Short, Plunkett Triumphs: Final Qualifying for the 2026 Open

Twenty spots. About 285 contenders. Four golf courses in England and Scotland. And 36 holes that will determine who plays and who watches. The Final Qualifying for the 154th Open Championship was once again a long, grueling day—and it delivered everything that makes this format so special: big names stumbling and unknown stories that leave you breathless. On July 16, Royal Birkdale in Southport will open its gates for golf’s oldest major tournament. Who gets to compete was decided today, Tuesday.

Results at a Glance

At four locations, players competed for five spots each in the field at Royal Birkdale. The best score of the day came from the Royal Cinque Ports qualifying course in Deal, where two players shot an impressive 12 under Par:

Burnham & Berrow Golf Club, Somerset (England)

West Lancashire Golf Club, Blundellsands (England)

*After a playoff (3-for-1) against Sam Easterbrook (Am.) and Joe Dean

Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, Deal (England)

Dundonald Links, Troon (Scotland)

The Three Stories of the Day

James Nicholas: A Religious Experience Called Links Golf

Sometimes an entire season can be condensed into just a few weeks. James Nicholas is experiencing exactly that right now. The 29-year-old American from Scarsdale, New York, had played 36 holes in his home state just three weeks ago during the US Open Final Qualifying, earning himself a spot at Shinnecock Hills. For his performance there—he made the cut and finished in 65th place—he was even allowed to hit the very first tee shot of the tournament. And now this: medalist at the Final Qualifying for the Open Championship, also after 36 holes, this time in Somerset. Rounds of 65 and 67 put him at ten under Par, the best score at Burnham & Berrow.

Nicholas is thus the first player since Brandon Wu in 2019 to qualify for both Opens in the same summer. On the Korn Ferry Tour, he currently ranks 16th on the money list—a PGA Tour card contender who’s also making his mark in the majors. After a blistering start, he battled through a difficult closing stretch at Burnham & Berrow.

“Today was a real battle,” Nicholas said after his round. “I got off to a great start, and then on the back nine it was kind of a case of hanging on. But I love links golf. I keep saying it this week—it’s almost like a religious experience,” he told the Golf Channel.

Matthew Jordan: Birdie in the Playoff, Stomach Cramps Included

There are days when you really shouldn’t play at all. For Matthew Jordan, July 1 was one of those days—and yet he still ended up securing a spot in the Open Championship. The 30-year-old Englishman from West Lancashire woke up the night before with severe discomfort, which he attributed to food poisoning. Playing 36 holes of golf under those conditions was anything but a given.

Jordan persevered. He shot rounds of 69 and 67, and when a three-way playoff for the fifth and final qualifying spot emerged after 36 holes—against amateur Sam Easterbrook and Englishman Joe Dean—he was in it. On the second extra hole, the 18th, Jordan hit his approach shot within a few centimeters of the hole and sank the Birdie putt to qualify. Dean had previously missed his Birdie attempt, while Easterbrook had already finished with a Par.

Jordan is no stranger to the world’s oldest major tournament: in 2023 and 2024, he finished the Open in a tie for tenth place each time. He knows Royal Birkdale. And he knows what this day is worth. “Days like this are long,” Jordan said after the playoff. “But that’s exactly what makes it so valuable.”

Marcus Plunkett: From the Battlefield to a Major

When you hear Marcus Plunkett’s story, it sounds almost too extraordinary to be true. The American attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduated in 2016, and then served for five years as a transportation officer in the U.S. Army. He spent his first year of service in South Korea, was later transferred to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, and completed a six-month deployment in Afghanistan.

In the final months of his military service, Plunkett took up golf again—and promptly broke the course record at the Cheyenne Shadows Army Golf Course. When he was discharged from active duty in May 2021, he made a decision: he would become a professional golfer. In 2024, he won the Dakotas Tour money list, thereby securing his KFT status. This season, he has played primarily on the Asian Tour.

Today, at Dundonald Links, Plunkett shot rounds of 69 and 72 for three under Par—and tied for fourth place to qualify for Royal Birkdale. It will be his first major championship ever. One could hardly have imagined a better debut story.

The Big Names Who Fell Short

Sergio Garcia and the Fateful Lasagna

For anyone who loves the Open Championship as much as Sergio Garcia does, another failure hurts especially hard. The 46-year-old Spaniard—the 2017 Masters champion, a two-time Open runner-up, and the man who narrowly missed the Claret Jug in a 2007 playoff against Pádraig Harrington at Carnoustie—will not be competing this year either. For the third time in four years, Garcia failed to qualify for the Open.

His morning round in West Lancashire started off promisingly: four under Par, 68 strokes, and a good position in the field. Then, during the break between rounds, Garcia ate in the players’ lounge—and opted for lasagna. What followed, according to his own account, was an afternoon round played while suffering from extreme nausea.

“I just ate the lasagna,” Garcia said after his round in front of the clubhouse. “I thought to myself, a little pasta—why not? But for some reason, it didn’t agree with me at all, and I felt extremely nauseous throughout the entire first nine holes in the afternoon. I felt like I was going to throw up on practically every hole.” (Source: The Telegraph / R&A)

Garcia shot a 75 in the second round and missed the cut by a wide margin. Was the lasagna really to blame? The other players standing in the same line at the clubhouse, at any rate, reported no such complaints. Since joining the LIV Golf League in 2022, Garcia has missed seven majors—the lack of world ranking points over the past four years is making it increasingly difficult to secure a direct exemption. He is guaranteed a lifetime exemption for the Masters thanks to his 2017 victory. The rest remains a challenge.

Wesley Bryan: One Bogey Too Many

Perhaps it was the most talked-about story of the day—even if it didn’t have a happy ending in the end. Wesley Bryan, a former PGA Tour winner (2017 RBC Heritage) and, along with his brother George, the face behind the Bryan Bros YouTube channel—which has millions of subscribers—competed in West Lancashire for one of the five starting spots.

As a directly seeded player, Bryan didn’t have to go through pre-qualifying. His brother George, on the other hand, had fought his way through the Regional Qualifying event in Hesketh—with a 68 that put him at the very top of the leaderboard. Carrying Wesley’s bag was none other than Peter Finch, himself a YouTube personality and a 2025 Final Qualifier.

Wesley played a strong second round: Birdies on holes 16 and 17 put him at eight under par—right on the playoff cut. Then came the final hole, the 18th, a par 4. He missed a par putt from about two meters. Bogey. Seven under Par. Missed the playoff.

As a side note: Had Wesley qualified, his current PGA Tour suspension—he was suspended after appearing at an LIV-sponsored creator event and has not yet been able to return—would have been irrelevant. The Open Championship is organized by the R&A; the PGA Tour has no influence whatsoever over the field at Royal Birkdale.

George Bryan finished the tournament at two over Par, also falling well short of the lead.

Side Stories and Highlights

Josele Ballester delivered perhaps the most dramatic finish of the entire day at West Lancashire: He shot an Eagle on the 16th hole before nearly hitting his tee shot behind an internal out-of-bounds stake on the 18th—without even knowing it was there. The ball rolled just inside the line, and Ballester finished with a Birdie. After a rough month marked by missed cuts and a last-place finish at the LIV event in his native Spain, it was a timely return to form. “That’s just how this game works sometimes,” he said. (Source: Golf Channel)

Matthew Southgate is 37 years old and is playing in his seventh Open Championship at Birkdale. His best finish there was a tie for sixth place in 2017, when Jordan Spieth won the Claret Jug. After qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports, he didn’t get carried away with a long speech. He simply said, “See you soon at Birkdale.” (Source: Golf Channel)

Matthew Baldwin from England will essentially be playing a home game in Southport. The Dundonald qualifier has already played in the Open at Hoylake and Lytham—and now he’s returning to the northwest corner of England, this time in front of his own family. Baldwin said, “I get emotional just thinking about it. It’s going to be incredible.” (Source: AP)

On the LIV side, it was a mixed day: Three LIV pros—Caleb Surratt, Peter Uihlein, and Josele Ballester—qualified, while Garcia, Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri, and Thomas Detry didn’t make the cut.

There was also a historic first off the Fairways: For the first time in the tournament’s history, the R&A streamed the Final Qualifying live on its YouTube channel and also broadcast a radio program—both platforms went live at 4:30 p.m. British time.

Outlook: The Field Continues to Grow

Following the Final Qualifying, 134 players have secured spots in the field at Royal Birkdale. There are still a few spots remaining to reach the final total of 156 participants, which will be filled in two ways: At the Genesis Scottish Open the week before the Open, the top three players who have not already qualified and who make the cut will receive a spot. Also new this year is a so-called Last-Chance Qualifier organized by the R&A during the week of the Open Championship itself.

Royal Birkdale opens its gates on July 16—hosting the Open for the eleventh time. The tournament was last held here in 2017, when Jordan Spieth won the Claret Jug under dramatic circumstances. We’ll be reporting extensively from Royal Birkdale.