Bryson DeChambeau (+6) has missed the cut at the The Masters at Augusta in quite a dramatic fashion. He reached the 18th with a total of +3. At that point he was clearly in for the weekend. In fact, the cut finally closed at +4, although for a long time even +5 had a chance. The watering at Augusta has worked and the course has been considerably more accessible, indeed there were more than double the number of rounds under par than on Thursday
DeChambeau left his second shot in the left bunker at 18. He faced a delicate bunker shot, since he had to carry a lot of sand and then had little room to check it. The shot was difficult, but Bryson erred by deciding to be overly aggressive. He played the shot right to the edge and failed to clear the slope. It rolled back in. He was already in a precarious position, although a bogey would have seen him through to the weekend
His second attempt from the bunker was very poor. This time he tried to play it safe; he got it out to the right, it ran onto the huge slope of the green and slid off. From there, an approach and two putts for a catastrophe. Triple bogey. From +3 to +6 and out of the cut. Curiously, in the last eleven times he had played the 18th he had only made one bogey. This is his second triple bogey here. The first was in the second round of 2016, when he finished as the leading amateur of the tournament. That triple bogey was also painful, as he had been three under for the day
The two-time US Open champion has, by his own merits, become the big disappointment of the week. He came in with the tag of favourite, after teeing off in the featured group with McIlroy last year, and has come crashing down. From start to finish. He will have to keep studying to find the formula to win at Augusta. He had progressed with top-six finishes in the two previous years, but today has been a setback
DeChambeau’s absence, as well as Jon Rahm’s poor position, are a blow to LIV Golf. It is undeniable. They are its two biggest names and neither will be in contention to win. In this sense, the Saudi league’s standard-bearer right now at this Masters is Tyrrell Hatton, seventh on -4. Also to have made the cut were Dustin Johnson (PAR), Sergio García (+3), Jon Rahm (+4) and Charl Schwartzel (+4). Also missing the cut, besides DeChambeau, were Bubba Watson, Tom McKibbin, Cameron Smith and Carlos Ortiz. By the way, this is the sixth consecutive major cut missed by the Australian Smith
Beyond LIV, players who missed the cut at this Masters include Robert MacIntyre, reprimanded by Augusta for making a rude gesture in the air after sending his ball into the water twice at the 15th on Thursday, Akshay Bhatia, Nicolai Hojgaard, JJ Spaun and Ryan Fox. The New Zealander had made the cut on his two previous appearances
