Carlos Ortiz, the most recent winner of LIV Golf, splits opinion ahead of this week’s US Open with a bold claim.
Carlos Ortiz, the most recent LIV Golf winner, feels he is “one of the best players in the world and deserves to be in the US Open” this coming week at Pinehurst No. 2.
At LIV Golf Houston, the 33-year-old Ortiz defeated Adrian Meronk of Poland by a mere one shot in the final round on Sunday.
Given that Ortiz won his only PGA Tour championship in Houston in 2020, the city appears to be no problem for him.
In addition to his dominant International Series Oman victory on the Asian Tour in, the Mexican won his second victory of the season at LIV Golf Houston, his first career win on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League.
Apart from those two victories this season, Ortiz has two other top-10 results: a T10 at the LIV Golf Hong Kong and a T4 on the Asian Tour’s International Series Macau.
In three 48-man LIV Golf League events this season—a T43 at Mayakoba, a T40 at Las Vegas, and a T22 at LIV Golf Adelaide—Ortiz has finished outside of the top 20.
Following his first victory on the LIV Golf League, Ortiz expressed deep disappointment over his inability to carry over his form into the US Open this coming week.
After missing out on joining the 13 LIV Golf players who will compete in the 2024 US Open due to a costly double bogey on the last hole, Ortiz participated in US Open qualifying in Dallas last month.
His current goal is to earn a spot at the British Open. The Open in a month.
Ortiz said:
“I’m playing really well. Regretfully, I blew the qualifier by doubling the final hole. It was quite painful. Though it’s difficult given the current circumstances, I believe that eventually we will return to the majors because, as one of the best players in the world, I deserve to be there. In addition to the upcoming LIV tournaments, I’ll try my hardest to qualify for the British Open and the summer Olympics. I’m excited for the remaining games in the season.”
It seems that opinions on social media have been split by Ortiz’s remarks.
Some believe he has every right to be irritated, while others believe he blew the opportunity to qualify.
Ortiz has dropped to 237th place in the Official World Golf Rankings and hasn’t appeared in any major tournaments in 2024.
He missed the cut in his final major tournament appearance at the US Open in 2023.
Amazingly, out of nine majors that Ortiz participated in, he missed the cut in seven of them.
His T52 finish at the 2019 US Open is his best major performance.
Ortiz had once held the 44th-most-high ranking in the world.
In 2022, he switched to LIV Golf during the season’s debut.
In 2022, Ortiz placed in the top five twice; in 2023, he finished in the top ten.
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