The U.S. Open is the greatest test in golf, and some big names flunked out halfway through.
Tiger Woods closed his round with back-to-back birdies to sniff the cut line, but it moved during the afternoon wave and he is among those headed home early.
The cut — top 60 and ties — turned out to be eight over. So even though Woods made clutch putts late, his 10-over total (78-72) wasn’t enough for a weekend tee time.
“Unfortunately, it’s just what I’ve done the last few events,” Woods said. “I just haven’t putted well. You know, if I would have putted like I did the beginning of the year with this ball-striking, that would be ideal. Unfortunately, I just haven’t done that.”
Woods wasn’t the only big name to miss the cut. In fact, of the six players who made up the two morning/afternoon featured groups, three are gone: Woods, Jordan Spieth (nine over, 78-71) and Rory McIlroy (10 over, 80-70). Spieth made four straight birdies on the back nine Friday to get inside the number, but he finished bogey-bogey. McIlory shaved 10 strokes off his Thursday round, but it still wasn’t enough.
Phil Mickelson toyed with the cut line on Friday, but he shot 69 in the second round to finish six over for the tournament and advance to the weekend, where he’ll celebrate his 48th birthday on Saturday.
Other marquee names to miss the cut include: Bubba Watson (11 over), Matt Kuchar (12 over), Kevin Kisner (12 over), Jason Day (12 over), Adam Scott (13 over), Sergio Garcia (14 over) and Jon Rahm (15 over). You can see the complete leaderboard here.
