Though the second round has not been officially completed, which means the cut at the 2021 Players Championship is not quite official, several of the biggest names in golf are clearly out of contention at the first big-time event of the year. When the cut is finally made Saturday at either even par or 1 over, there will be numerous stars unable to move to the weekend.
The Players is always menacing when it comes to ejecting stars and superstars, and there’s almost certainly not another tournament in the world that is so punishing when it comes to great players whose games are even slightly askew.
Chief among that crowd this week was Rory McIlroy, who could not recover from his opening 79 on Thursday. He shot a 3-over 75 on Friday, and the streak of nobody ever winning two consecutive editions of this tournament will continue as McIlroy entered as the 2019 defending champion.
McIlroy was pretty abysmal throughout the bag, but he said after his round that he’s been a little lost in Bryson DeChambeau-mania and the allure of adding speed on a tour that rewards it.
Rory has been fascinating to watch this year because his good rounds have still been really good, but he’s been unable to string anything together for four straight days. This has often been true of him throughout his career — where one round or even one nine-hole stretch completely upends his tournament — and it was exacerbated this week when he went out in 43 on Thursday morning.
TPC Sawgrass (as it is wont to do) exposed a lot of what he’s been at war with for the last several months. He has a lot of work to do before the Masters, which is in a month, but as he said earlier this week, there’s always a path forward. The good swings and the elite level of play is always in there. He just has to go find it.
The other notable missed cut, albeit for a different reason, came from Viktor Hovland. He self-reported a penalty on Thursday after his mom (!!) informed him that he’d moved his ball marker on a green to let playing partner Justin Thomas putt but then forgot to move it back when he replaced his ball after the putt. He called it in to the PGA Tour after Round 1, and it cost him two strokes on his scorecard. He of course (of course!) missed the cut by two.
Here are some of the other stars who will not be playing this weekend.
2021 Players Championship: Notable missed cuts
- Tommy Fleetwood (+2)
- Viktor Hovland (+2)
- Webb Simpson (+2)
- Tony Finau (+3)
- Xander Schauffele (+4)
- Patrick Cantlay (+5)
- Rickie Fowler (+6)
- Rory McIlroy (+10)
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