The Open Championship just sent a TON of stars home early

Martin Slumbers, the CEO of the R&A, tried to warn us on Wednesday.

“The golf course is ready,” he said.

Boy, he wasn’t kidding. For most links golf courses, including many in the Open rota, wind and pot bunkers are the greatest defense. The R&A knew wind was coming this week, so far it has, and it’s been spectacular. The result has been a Royal Troon setup that has been challenging and diabolical while also remaining a very fair test for the game’s best. Troon has wrought particular havoc on those who have been on the wrong side of the draw (Thursday morning/Friday afternoon). Justin Thomas, for example, shot 45 in his opening nine on Friday (but still managed to shoot 78).

As for the pot bunkers? They haven’t been easy either. Joaquin Niemann made an 8 on the itty-bitty par-3 8th Postage Stamp hole on Friday, needing four shots to get out of the greenside bunkers. Tom Kim also visited three of the five bunkers on that hole alone, making a double-bogey 5. (“As you know, links golf is very simple,” Slumbers quipped on Wednesday, “stay out of the bunkers.”)

Niemann, quite incredibly, rebounded to make four birdies in his next seven holes to shoot even par for the second straight day and stay a manageable seven shots off Shane Lowry‘s lead. But Kim, the 17th-ranked player in the world, missed the cut. He wasn’t alone. A handful of some of the biggest names in golf are leaving Royal Troon and the final major of the year early, as the Open Championship cut line moved to six over on Friday afternoon.

Gone is Tiger Woods, who followed his opening-round 79 with a 77 on Friday. He finished 14 over for his third straight missed cut in a major. He said on Thursday he’s gotten better as the year has progressed but wishes he could play more in general. Although with his body, his strategy is instead to save his energy for the big ones.

“I just wish I was more physically sharp coming into the majors,” Woods said Friday. “Obviously it tests you mentally, physically, emotionally, and I just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be. I was hoping that I would find it somehow, just never did.”

Perhaps the most surprising missed cut came from Rory McIlroy, who shot 78-75 (11 over), his 153 the second-highest 36-hole total he’s recorded in his major career. He entered the week as one of the betting favorites, with many thinking he was a likely candidate to bounce back after a heartbreaking U.S. Open loss last month.

“I think once I made the 8 on the 4th hole, that was it. Twenty-two holes into the event and I’m thinking about where I’m going to go on vacation next week,” McIlroy said with a defeated smirk. “That was basically it. I mean, I knew from then I’d sort of resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to shoot, whatever it is, four or five under from there on in to make the cut.”

Newly named Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Will Zalatoris both finished seven over and missed the cut by a shot. Henrik Stenson, the runaway winner here in 2016, finished eight over and missed the cut. Tyrrell Hatton shot 77 on Friday. He was just two over for the week with eight holes remaining in his second round, but he played them in six over to finish eight over.

News

Three other pre-tournament favorites — U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau, rising star Ludvig Aberg and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood — all finished nine under to miss the cut. Tony Finau and Viktor Hovland both shot 10 over and are heading home. Finau, who shot 71 Thursday, was 10 strokes worse on Friday.

The 2022 Open champ from St. Andrews, Cameron Smith, finished 12 over and missed the cut. World No. 11 Sahith Theegala shot 14 over. Also gone is Wyndham Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open winner, who shot 78-80 for a 16-over week.

All said, 10 of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Ranking missed the cut at The Open, which feels worse for this tournament since the wait for the next major, the 2025 Masters, is so long away.

After his round, Fleetwood was asked how he’d reflect on his day.

“Well, it’s a missed cut, isn’t it?” he said. “And it’s a weekend where I don’t get to play golf and have a chance.”