LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Max Homa will miss out on a chance at major glory this weekend as they all failed to take advantage of unusually low U.S. Open scoring conditions and missed the halfway cut on Friday.
The trio, all in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking, had one under-par round between them through two days of the U.S. Open and were among the more notable players to finish outside the two-over-par cutline.
World number 10 Jordan Spieth, who counts the 2015 U.S. Open among his three major titles, bogeyed two of his closing three holes for a one-over-par 71 that left him at three over on the week and one shot outside the cutline.
Twice major winner Thomas, who is 16th in the rankings, had an even tougher time in the second round as he bogeyed his first four holes and struggled to a 11-over-par 81 that left him a distant 12 shots off the cutline.
World number seven Homa, who broke par in Thursday’s opening round, was comfortably inside the cutline with two holes to play on Friday but capped his round with a pair of double-bogeys and dropped to four over on the week.
The other top-20 golfers to miss the cut were Kurt Kitayama and South Korea’s Im Sung-jae.
Among the other notables to miss the cut are Masters joint runner-up Phil Mickelson (74), Jason Day (76), Adam Scott (72) and former U.S. Open champions Martin Kaymer (73) and Justin Rose (68).
It was also a disappointing week for Canada’s Nick Taylor, who came to the U.S. Open fresh off an emotional playoff win at the Canadian Open, where he drained a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole to beat England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
Taylor needed a back-nine birdie to get inside the cutline but saw his hopes of playing the weekend disappear after a bogey at the penultimate hole.
The struggles by some of golf’s more high-profile players was all the surprising given Thursday’s scoring average of 71.38 was the lowest in a first round in U.S. Open history and the sixth-lowest in major championship history.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by William Mallard)
