TROON, Scotland
If the pros thought that Royal Troon Golf Club played tough on Thursday during the opening round of the 152nd British Open, well, they hadn’t seen nothing yet. The wet stuff went away – for the moment – on the west coast of the home of golf but the wind howled and sent scores soaring on cut day. It took 6-over 148 or better to be among the 80 golfers to make the weekend. Troon sent some of the biggest names in golf packing for home. On the bright side, Prestwick Airport is close enough that flights coming and going fly over the course, so some of the players could see that their ride home was waiting.
Irishman Padraig Harrington summed up what is at stake and why the cut still matters. “Cuts are always a nasty thing. Definitely if there was no cut line, I would have been a couple of shots better,” he said. “You do start thinking about it and I shouldn’t have.”
One of the players who fought his way to the weekend was Scotland’s own Robert MacIntyre. The Scottish Open winner a week ago made triple bogeys at No. 1 and 4 but battled back, shooting 4 under on his last 14 holes thanks to a pep talk from caddie Mike Burrow. “I didn’t think I was going to make the weekend, but Mike said, ‘Look, fans are here to watch. Just give them what they want, a severe dig and fight,’ and that’s what I done,” MacIntyre said. “I just tried my best and managed to turn it around.”
Max Homa birdied two of the last three holes, including a 28-footer at the last. He roared with delight and clenched his fists. “That felt very good,” he said. “This is my favorite tournament in the world. So to have the chance to play two more days, I don’t know, I had an out-of-body experience. I didn’t really expect to yell like I won a golf tournament. It just felt really good. I felt like I fought all day.”
Notable Players Who Missed the Cut
Here’s a look at some of notable players who weren’t so fortunate. Tyrrell Hatton, an Englishman, has struggled at the British Open. He missed the cut in five of his first six appearances in the championship. He made double bogeys at Nos. 4 and 12 en route to shooting 77.
Keegan Bradley, the newly-named U.S. Ryder Cup captain continued to struggle at the Open Championship. He shot 74-75 to miss the cut for the fifth straight time and has never recorded a top-10 finish in 11 appearances.
Eight years ago, Stenson authored one of the all-time performances in British Open history here at Royal Troon. This time, not so much. He had a triple bogey at the Postage Stamp on Thursday en route to shooting 77. He bounced back with 73 in the second round but missed the cut for the third time in the last four years at the Open.
Oosthuizen, the 2015 Open champ, is playing LIV Golf these days and this was his lone major of the year. He opened with 78 and bounced back with 72 but the damage was done.
Zalatoris has had an up-and-down season, missing the cut in half of his 12 starts. He has now missed the cut in back-to-back starts and withdrew with a back injury at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Fleetwood opened with a 76 and shot 75 on Friday. The Englishman missed his first cut since the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
The reigning U.S. Open champ shot 6-over 42 on his first nine holes on Thursday and that was the story of this major for him. He blamed his equipment but the reality is he didn’t hit enough fairways and missed some short putts early.
The reigning FedEx Cup champion has been struggling with his game for most of the season and it didn’t go much better this week at Troon. The Norwegian is seventh in the world but with the exception of a great performance at the PGA Championship, where he finished third, Hovland had three missed cuts at the majors.
Finau handled the difficult conditions on Thursday, shooting even-par 71, but it all fell apart on Friday. He made a triple-bogey 7 at No. 9 and a quadruple-bogey 8 at No. 12 en route to shooting 81.
Kim hit just six greens in regulation…
