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Sergio Garcia has twice come up short at West Lancashire (Jan Kruger/R&A via Getty Images)

Sergio Garcia has been a polarizing figure throughout his career, all the way back to when he played in his first British Open as a pro at Carnoustie back in 1999. Garcia missed the cut and was seen weeping in his mother’s arms.

A month later he dueled with Tiger Woods down the stretch in the PGA Championship at Medinah and a star-crossed career was born.

Garcia, whose lone major title came at the 2017 Masters, has done his share of questionable things over the years that have brought him scorn. His move to LIV Golf and calling out of the PGA Tour in the process resulted in bad blood, even among some of his best friends in the game, such as Rory McIlroy.

But Garcia deserves kudos for his attempt to qualify for his 26th Open championship last week in England. Amid all the Official World Golf Ranking chatter and the continued complaining about a lack of LIV players in the majors, Garcia stuck a peg in the ground at West Lancashire and proceeded to give his best attempt over 36 holes.

He didn’t make it — missing by two strokes for the second straight year — but he tried. And it’s the fourth time over the past two summers that Garcia has attempted to qualify for the two major Opens. He made it into the U.S. Open both times, tying for 12th last month at Pinehurst No. 2.