Sergio Garcia said he felt nauseous throughout the front nine at West Lancashire Golf Club - Jan Kruger/R&A/Getty Images

Sergio García came up short in his bid to qualify for this year’s Open in the 36-hole shoot-out at West Lancashire on Tuesday – and then all but blamed the lasagne he ate in the club between rounds.

The Spaniard was one of 285 professionals and amateurs competing in four events across Britain for one of the 15 spots on offer for Royal Birkdale in two weeks’ time.

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García – the former Masters champion who has always declared it his lifelong dream to lift the Claret Jug – was well-placed after an opening four-under-par 68 at the celebrated Merseyside links. But an afternoon 75 meant the 46-year-old slipped out of contention, meaning he will miss the British major for the third time in four years.

Two years ago, he pointed the finger at the lack of security for his failure. This time it was the chef. “I only ate the lasagne,” García told reporters. “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.

Garcia, pictured in 2024, has missed out on a place at the Open for the third time in four years - Jan Kruger/R&A/Getty Images

“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.

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“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.”

Sympathy may not be in abundance for the Ryder Cup’s all-time leading points-scorer, especially as other people at West Lancs were in the same queue for lunch and nobody else suffered. “The lasagne was lovely – the club did a great job,” one told Telegraph Sport. “Nobody else was ill. Good on him for turning up. But come on.”

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The Open referees might be relieved. At Royal Portrush last year, in García’s first Open appearance in three years, he broke his club in half after smashing it into the ground during the final round. He initially refused to discuss the petulance, but true to form, issued a statement a few days later in which he showed his contrition.

In the very next major – the Masters in April – García became the first golfer in history to be warned about his conduct mid-round. Again, he took his frustration out on his driver, clattering it into the ground before breaking the club in half when almost destroying a water cooler. A few days later he apologised – a huge surprise. Golf is starting to tire of this man.

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Still, García’s absence in Southport is a shame as, with his creative talent, he is such a wonderful exponent of the seaside game, as he has shown with his two runner-up placings in the Open, as well as three other top fives. With time running out, obviously so too are the realistic chances.

García’s LIV colleague Caleb Surratt came through at Burnham & Berrow, as did fellow American Peter Uihein at Royal Cinque Ports. At West Lancs, England’s Samuel Bairstow led the way on 10 under, nine clear of García. It remains unclear if the 27-year-old from Sheffield also had the lasagne for lunch.