‘He was cussing himself’: Bryson DeChambeau melts down on 18 to miss Masters cut

Bryson DeChambeau was hopeful that on this Masters Sunday, he would put his arms through the green jacket. Instead, DeChambeau will be watching the third and fourth rounds of the 2026 Masters from home.

The two-time major champion fought off an ugly opening round with solid play on Friday at Augusta National. Until he didn’t.

All of DeChambeau’s hard work came undone with a shocking meltdown in a greenside bunker that led to a devastating triple bogey and easily made Bryson the most surprising player to miss the Masters cut.

DeChambeau rallies from nightmare start on Masters Friday (at first)

What made DeChambeau’s 18th-hole ejection so surprising was what had happened over the previous 17 holes.

He started Friday’s round in a big hole. DeChambeau, who was among the pre-tournament betting favorites, shot a four-over 76 in Thursday’s opening round. A frustrated DeChambeau was terse with reporters following the disappointing performance.

His ultimate undoing on Thursday would turn out to be an omen for things to come. At Augusta’s difficult 11th hole in Round 1, DeChambeau twice failed to escape a greenside bunker, later explaining it by saying the sand was softer than he expected.

On Friday, it became clear early that the cut line would eventually settle at four or five over par (it ended up at four over). That meant Bryson had zero room for error.

News

When he bogeyed the 1st hole right out of the gates to drop to five over, he was suddenly facing an uphill climb to make the cut.

At this point, one could imagine Bryson growing more frustrated, causing him to fall further down the leaderboard. But that’s not what happened.

Instead, DeChambeau grinded out the rest of his round, making three birdies to close out his first nine at one under on the day. At the turn, he was back on the right side of the cut line.

When a disappointing bogey came at the par-5 13th, DeChambeau buckled down and made birdie at 15 to get back to three over.

He was still at that number, and safely within the cut line, when he arrived at the par-4 18th hole.

DeChambeau’s 18th-hole bunker disaster leads to triple bogey, MC

At 18, DeChambeau only needed a bogey-5 to secure his tee times for Masters weekend.

He first hit a wayward drive into the right trees. But when he found the left greenside bunker in 2 from the pine straw, it seemed like a foregone conclusion: splash out, two-putt, shake hands and hit the range to start prepping for a historic comeback.

News

It seemed like it would be that easy. Until it wasn’t.

In a callback to his 11th-hole nightmare on Thursday, DeChambeau swiped at his ball with his wedge, but it failed to escape the top lip of the bunker, rolling back down the face to remain in its sandy prison.

No matter. He could still get up-and-down to make the cut. And his second attempt was much better than the first. It even looked like it might work out. Until it didn’t.

Bryson’s ball bounced onto the green softly, but too low to survive the slick, sloping putting surface. So he could only watch in horror as it tailed right before reaching the hole and rolling off the front of the green entirely.

A patron could be heard on the Masters.com video of the shot saying, “He was cussing himself over there.”

Now DeChambeau needed a miracle chip-in to make the Masters cut, but he sent his attempt well past the hole. He missed that one before finally draining the comebacker for a devastating triple-bogey 7.

He could only grimace with the knowledge that his score went from one under to two over on the closing hole. His Friday 74 left him at six over for the tournament, and he missed the cut by two shots.

But there wouldn’t be another curt meeting with reporters Friday night. DeChambeau quickly packed up and left the property before any questions could be asked.