Tag: cutline

Tiger Woods will miss 2024 PGA Championship cut thanks to horrendous three-hole stretch on Friday

Woods is eight shots off the cut line and 19 behind the leader.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Tiger Woods is heading home early.

The 15-time major champion will miss the weekend cut at the 2024 PGA Championship after a lackluster 6-over 77 on Friday in the second round at Valhalla Golf Club that was doomed from the start. Woods walked off the course at 7 over for the tournament, eight shots off the cut.

“The week, it was a great week being here, being here at Valhalla, and unfortunately my scores did not indicate how the people treated me and how great a week I had,” Woods said after his round. “Unfortunately, I hit too many shots.”

This week’s major championship is being held in Kentucky but Woods took a brief visit to Los Angeles on his scorecard with his 7-4-7 stretch of triple-bogey-triple that derailed his round from the jump on Nos. 2-4.

“Well, I got off to bad start and the rough grabbed me at 2. No sand in the bunker as well. Just made a mistake there. I compounded the problem there at 4,” Woods explained after his round. “Just kept making mistakes and things you can’t do, not just in tournaments but in majors especially. And I just kept making them. I hung around for most of the day but unfortunately the damage was done early.”

He did well to fight back and earn some honor with a pair of birdies on Nos. 7 and 8, but gave those right back with consecutive squares thanks to bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12. Woods hopped on board the par train on Nos. 13-17 and made a consolation birdie at the last to seal the deal for his trunk-slam finish at 7 over par, eight shots off the cut and a whopping 19 off the lead.

The score is frustrating, but what will really irk Woods will be the fact that it wasn’t his body that gave up on him today. It was his game. He wasn’t limping. He wasn’t grimacing and constantly stretching throughout the round. He just wasn’t dialed with his approaches or short game. Simple as that.

Despite the poor showing, the 48-year-old Woods is still confident his game will continue to improve. In due course, that is.

“I just got to — I need to play more. Unfortunately, I just haven’t played a whole lot of tournaments, and not a whole lot of tournaments on my schedule either,” he said. “Hopefully everything will somehow come together in my practice sessions at home and be ready for Pinehurst.”

The next time we should expect to see Woods will be at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, June 13-16. The warm summer temperature in the Sandhills of North Carolina should be like an incubator for Woods’ surgically repaired body that’s held together by pins and screws, and the course should give Tiger an advantage due to his ability to get creative with various shots. That said, his lack of tournament reps and performances so far this year shouldn’t give fans too high of expectations.

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Lexi Thompson among 8 big names to miss cut at 2023 Shriners Children’s Open

Here’s a look at some of the bigger names who were sent packing early.

LAS VEGAS — As part of the FedEx Cup Fall, players either fighting to maintain their PGA Tour cards or looking for entrance into the first two Signature events had plenty to play for at the Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin.

But not everyone will be around for the weekend.

Windy conditions on Thursday morning put some players in a tough spot to make the cut this week and others simply didn’t play well enough to move on.

Although a few players saved their best for when they needed it: Brandt Snedeker, James Hahn and Scott Piercy all made birdie on their final hole of the day to eke out a place on the right side of a cutline that landed at 3 under.

Here’s a look at some of the bigger names who were sent packing early.

Lexi Thompson shoots 69 in second round, expected to just miss PGA Tour cut at Shriners Children’s Open

A few minor mishaps on her last few holes proved too much to overcome and likely knocked her out of the weekend.

Lexi Thompson started the week by insisting that making the cut at the PGA Tour’s Shriners Children’s Open would be “definitely at the top of my accomplishments.”

At one point on Friday, it appeared she might need to rebuild her list of aspirations.

Thompson opened the day at TPC Summerlin by missing a par putt on the 17th green after resuming a first round that was halted by darkness. Then Thompson opened the second round with a bogey on the 10th hole, her first of the round, pushing her to 3 over for the tournament.

That’s when the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship winner showed the tremendous resolve that made her a major winner, using birdies on three of the next five holes to get back near the projected cutline, and then adding another pair of birdies after the turn. But a few minor mishaps on her last few holes proved too much to overcome and likely knocked her out of the weekend.

More: Lexi Thompson joined Annika Sorenstam, Babe Zaharias among women who played in a PGA Tour event

She finished the day with a 69 and was even par for the two days, marking just the third PGA Tour round by a female under 70. Michelle Wie had the previous two, both in the Sony Open (one in 2004 and another 2006).

Thompson likely just missed out on becoming the first female to make a cut at a PGA Tour since World War II, when Babe Didrikson Zaharias made the 36-hole cut at the 1945 Tucson Open. That would have been a span of 28,756 days between events.

Zaharias, one of the game’s great athletes, had the kind of game that allowed her to fit in on the PGA Tour, too, and in 1935, she played the Cascades Open. Zaharias missed the cut, but it started an 11-year stint during which she teed it up a handful of times with the men (becoming the first woman to do so). She was instrumental in attracting early fanfare to the LPGA.

Thompson has certainly done the same this week, bombing drives of over 300 yards and drawing galleries to a FedEx Cup Fall tournament that’s lacking in star power.

“Very proud. I played really well today, came out super early, and bogeyed 17 but made a great save on 18 there and just overall played very steady,” Thompson said. “As the day went on, I tried to stay committed to my targets out there and to my swing thoughts and just enjoyed the whole experience.”

She looked in good position to make the weekend after a birdie on the second hole pushed her to 2 under for the tournament.

A bad break on No. 5 started to derail things, however, as she pushed her tee shot on the par 3 a bit right and it caromed into a penalty area. Thompson returned to a drop area, then stuck an iron close and dropped a big 6-foot putt that kept her at 1 under, right at a projected cutline that was expected to drop due to calm scoring conditions.

But for the second straight day, the eighth hole proved a thorn in Thompson’s side as she rolled through the long par-3, came up well short on a chip and then missed a par putt. The bogey dropped her to even, meaning she needed a birdie to stay in contention for the cut line and an eagle to get secure.

On her final hole, needing an eagle to get safe inside the line, Thompson hit her drive 289 yards and followed with a 258-yard second shot that just missed the green. A chip from the fringe just missed and then her birdie putt caught the lip and went a couple inches past.

Overall, it was an impressive performance by Thompson, especially on Friday. The 11-time LPGA winner hit 12 of 14 fairways, 14 of 18 greens and averaged over 301 yards off the tee.

Even with the disappointing finale, Thompson was thrilled with the excitement of her PGA Tour debut and even enjoyed the media attention her appearance brought.

“It was a lot, but it was expected. Coming into the week I knew it would be a lot. But that’s why I have my family here, my loved ones, and to have that balance, once I left here, I was shut off and just myself and I could relax as much as I wanted to,” she said. “But the media is part of it. That’s the way to reach out to your fans, and seeing the fans out there and all the little girls, that’s what it’s all about.

“Seeing the people out there and hearing the cheers and seeing all the little kids, that’s what I play for. I think I said that on the last hole. A little kid screamed out, go Lexi, you’re great, and that just makes my day. No matter what I’m shooting, I could shoot 80, and they’d be like, you did great.

“That’s what it’s all about, just inspiring.”

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Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Joaquin Neimann among notable players to miss the cut at 2022 Travelers Championship

The game’s best golfers eat up TPC River Highlands, but big numbers can quickly appear on a player’s scorecard.

CROMWELL, Conn. — No one who is involved with the Travelers Championship or who goes to TPC River Highlands will deny that the game’s best golfers eat it up every year.

It is less than 6,900 yards in length, and this year after about a half-inch of rain fell on the course Wednesday, so conditions have been soft.

Xander Schauffele, Kevin Kisner, Patrick Cantlay and other players at the top of the leaderboard have looked comfortable most of the week, but as Rory McIlroy proved on the 12th and 15th holes Friday, big numbers can quickly appear on a player’s scorecard if he is not careful.

With 36 holes of the 2022 Travelers Championship now complete, here are some of the well-known golfers who failed to make the cut—which wound up being 2 under (138)—and who will not be playing this weekend.

Travelers: Yardage book | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Leaderboard

Patrick Reed, Kevin Na highlight notable PGA Tour players to miss the cut at 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Out of a field of 120 players, 78 will continue on this weekend at Bay Hill with a chance to take home the title.

An unusually large number of players survived the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Out of a field of 120 players, 78 will continue on this weekend with a chance to take home the title. It took a 36-hole aggregate of 3-over 147 to tie for 63rd place. Among those to squeak through include newly named U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, 2021 European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington and Tommy Fleetwood.

Those who weren’t so lucky include Patrick Reed, Brandt Snedeker, Justin Rose and Kevin Na, who shot a disastrous 81 on Thursday. Both of the amateurs in the field in Texas A&M star Sam Bennett, who ranks first in PGA Tour U, and U.S. Amateur champion James Piot, were sent packing.