Sergio Garcia says that going through Major qualifying the last couple of years has given him a new perspective on how much he loves playing in golf's biggest events.
Garcia finally got his first individual LIV Golf win at the weekend, and did it in style with a playoff victory on home soil at Valderrama in front of his family and friends.
Although elated with his victory, Garcia will miss out on this week's Open Championship for the second year running after failing to get through Final Qualifying at West Lancashire.
Garcia did manage to get into the US Open through qualifying, while he can play in The Masters for life after claiming the Green Jacket in his sole Major victory.
It's going through the qualifying events that has changed Garcia's perspective - not only in how tough it is to get into the Majors, but how important they are for him to play in.
"I don't want to sound like I'm bragging or anything like that, I've been very fortunate to play pretty much every single Major since the British Open in '99 until 2023," said Garcia after winning in Spain. "I only missed the Masters because of Covid.
"Even though you realize that the Majors are super important and it's what we love to play and stuff, when you get the chance to play in so many in a row, you start forgetting how difficult it actually is to make it into those Majors.
"This last year and a half or so, I've realized how difficult it is playing qualifiers and stuff like that. One day you hit two bad shots and you're out.
"It's given me definitely a different perspective on the Majors, on how much they mean, on how much harder I'm trying when I'm playing them, and the US Open was a good example of that.
Double victory at Valderrama for Sergio Garcia! In LIV Golf's first ever double playoff, the Crushers captain claimed the individual prize while David Puig and Abraham Ancer took care of business in the team event! 🏆 🏆 pic.twitter.com/WqnjuQwxuHJuly 14, 2024
"I was trying so hard to have a good week and play well and get in the top 10 so then I would qualify for the next year and things like that, and then obviously played the qualifier like 10 days ago for the British Open and just missing out."
There's no direct route into the Majors from LIV Golf, and while that may change eventually for now Garcia is determined to try and qualify for as many as he can.
Plenty of LIV Golf stars tried to make it to Troon this year, with 17 eventually making it via qualifying or exemptions, but some such as Talor Gooch don't even enter qualifying.
Garcia, though, is not one of those and his love for Major golf is so strong he'll continue to try and qualify as long as he can.
"I know even more how hard it is and how important the Majors are," he added. "And I still want to play as many as I can.
"Hopefully things get better and we start getting spots coming into some of the majors, but if not, I'll just keep playing qualifiers until my body says enough is enough, I guess."
