Carnage, heartbreak rule at Masters cut line — plus something else

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Standing at a microphone and gazing out at his favorite place on earth, Fred Couples sighed.

“It wasn’t really — I never got it close,” he said. “I wasn’t off, but it was not really a good round of golf like yesterday.”

For Couples, yesterday had been magical. On Masters Thursday the 65-year-old former champ holed an impossible putt from the fairway at No. 1 for birdie and holed a hybrid at No. 14 for eagle and did plenty of good in between, all adding up to a round of one-under 71 that left him tied for 11th.

But with Friday came wind, firm greens and a cruel dose of reality. The fan favorite bogeyed 3, 4 and 7. He birdied 9 and hung in through Amen Corner, holing clutch par putts to stay on the safe side of the cut line. But bogeys at 14 and 15 left him on the outside looking in, birdie putts at 16 and 17 just missed and after one final bogey at No. 18 he signed for 77, two shots shy of the two-over-par cut line.

Couples is always happy to be here. But he’s not just happy to be here.

“As soon as I get in that car and drive out Magnolia Lane and come back tomorrow and have a nice lunch, I’ll be fine,” he said. “But I’m not out there to — the goal is to make the cut at my age. I didn’t, and I’m kind of spinning my wheels thinking just why it was so mediocre.”

There’s a beauty and a fear that surrounds the Masters cut line because of what it means to different people. Top pros consider it a must-make, given the small field littered with ams and aging past champions. Ams and aging past champs, on the other hand, see it as a chance for a win in a week where little is expected of you. Cuts are terrific things to begin with — specific, binary, did-you-or-didn’t-you measures of success versus failure — and this week’s cut is particularly meaningful because this entire week is especially meaningful.

And on Friday, the cut line was a torture chamber.

YOU WANT TO FEEL BAD INSIDE? Like, really bad?

Take a peek at what Cameron Young did at No. 16. He was at two over par, squarely on the cut line, when his par putt slid past the side of the cup at No. 16. He sidled up to his 1-foot bogey putt — and missed it. And then he missed his 1-footer for double, too, before mercifully concluding the horror-film at triple-bogey 6.

Young bogeyed 17 and 18 for good measure, completing a march toward MC that saw him at even par with seven holes to play and seven over par at day’s end.

OTHER THAN TIGER WOODS, Phil Mickelson is this generation’s greatest major champion, with six to his name. He came in with high expectations and, despite a mediocre Thursday 75, rallied on Friday to one over with four holes to play. But those holes went terribly wrong; at No. 15 he spun a wedge off the green back into the water, leading to double bogey, and at No. 16 he found the water again, sealing his fate. It was the 54-year-old’s first MC at the Masters since 2016, and afterwards he mostly sounded surprised at how it had gone down.

“I really thought I was going to play well and get right in it,” he said. “I can’t remember — I haven’t missed very many cuts here, and I’m surprised that I missed one this year because I was playing really well heading in.”

OTHER THAN TIGER WOODS AND PHIL MICKELSON, Brooks Koepka is this generation’s greatest major champion, with five to his name. He’d opened with a middling round of 74 but he, too, had rallied; thanks to an eagle at No. 15 he was even par with just two holes to play. He made bogey at No. 17 but still just needed bogey at 18 to make the weekend; instead he lost his tee shot in the woods and wound up three-putting for quadruple-bogey 8. If you’re going to miss the cut, you may as well really miss it.

Koepka was in good company. Longtime running mate Dustin Johnson — himself a past champion here — was even par heading to No. 17, too. He found trouble off the tee and made bogey there. No worries, right? Just 5 or better at No. 18 and he’d make the weekend. But he lost his tee shot way right. He punched out. And he three-putted from the back fringe for a back-breaking double bogey that left him one shot out.

Sepp Straka, an in-form pre-tournament pick, opened with 78 and went on a birdie run midway through Friday’s round; six birdies and a bogey had him one shot inside the cut line with two holes to play. He made bogey at 17 and then snap-hooked his tee shot at 18 into the woods, leading to triple bogey.

Russell Henley, another trendy selection, was in second-to-last place after a Thursday 79, and even further off the pace with a first-hole Friday bogey. But then he birdied 4, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 16 to play his way inside the cut line — only to bogey No. 18 to post three over par, one shot out.

BUT THE TOUGHEST MC OF ALL belonged to the hero of the day, the oldest player in the field, Bernhard Langer, who at 67 years young rallied to the cut line with three birdies and just one bogey through 14 holes. But when his wedge shot at the par-5 15th spun back off the front and into the water, he could only stare into the fairway and wince. He was still one shot inside the cut line as he played the 18th, but his approach shot missed left, leaving a devilish up and down. He waved to the patrons as he approached the green — but still faced an 11-footer for par. When that went wandering past the cup he celebrated the final hole of his illustrious Masters career, hugging chairman Fred Ridley behind the green and embracing family and friends and then holding hands with his wife on a long, emotional walk toward the scoring area.

Most heartbreaking of all, though, he still thought he might have done enough to earn passage through to another weekend at Augusta National, two more days at what he called “the greatest tournament in the world.”

“Coming up 18 was mixed emotions because I was still inside the cut line, and even when I made bogey, I wasn’t sure if I’m totally out of there or not because I actually thought three over would make the cut, as windy as it was today,” he said. “I thought it was harder than yesterday — but it doesn’t look that way.”

But then, on the other side of the cut line, there was another feeling altogether: Relief.

Max Homa entered this week off five missed cuts in a row. He’s played some weekends at no-cut events, but the last time he made a cut was last year. And so, when he rallied from a Thursday 74, he couldn’t believe how good it felt to just get the simple victory of a Saturday tee time.

“It was a real battle in between my ears with that,” Homa said of the cut line. “It is a fight trying not to think about it because it does you no good.” He had just two shots to spare at No. 18, and then he hit his tee shot into the woods. He chopped something out to the fairway. He fired an iron shot right at the flag. And he poured in a lengthy par putt to secure his weekend plans.

“Yeah, it’s awesome. This has been just not fun at all,” he said. “I know I’m only even [par] and whatever, eight back, but it does feel good to not beat myself out here.”

And good to be on the correct side of a brutal, unforgiving line.