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British Open: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau all miss cut at Royal Troon

Shane Lowry holds a two-shot lead over the field headed into Moving Day at Royal Troon

ryan young
Staff writer
·4 min read
87

We’re halfway through another major championship, the final one of 2024, and Tiger Woods is once again heading home early.

Woods fired a 6-over on Friday to drop to 14-over on the week, which was well outside of the projected cut when he entered the clubhouse at Royal Troon in Scotland. That ended his hopes at a fourth British Open title, something that’s becoming a trend for the 15-time major championship winner in recent years.

Woods is now done competing until at least the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December. His next official PGA Tour event likely won’t be until the Genesis Invitational in February.

“I'd like to have played more [this season], but I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year,” Woods said. “I got a lot of time off to get better, to be better physically, which has been the case all year.

“I've gotten better, even though my results really haven't shown it, but physically I've gotten better, which is great. I just need to keep progressing like that and then eventually start playing more competitively and start getting into kind of the competitive flow again.”

Though Woods was the biggest name to miss the cut, plenty of others aren’t seeing the weekend. The cutline was at 6-over after Shane Lowry took a two-shot lead over the field ahead of a windy afternoon that seemed to shut just about everybody down.

Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open last year and earned a spot in the Olympics later this summer, finished behind Woods at 16-over after he had one of the most painful shots of the season. With his ball in the high grass, Clark was only to advance his ball a few feet in front of him.

Ludvig Åberg, who finished in second at the Masters in April and T4 last week, dropped to 9-over on Friday to miss the cut. He went 6-over on a five-hole stretch on his front nine on Friday before closing with a 5-over 76. Will Zalatoris was right with him, too, and finished at 8-over on the week. Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland and Tony Finau are also headed home early.

While it looked as if Max Homa was going to miss the cut, he drained a 30-footer for birdie at the last hole in order to sneak in. That prompted a massive celebration on the green.

Perhaps the biggest surprises, however, are with Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy. The duo, after their thrilling battle at the U.S. Open in North Carolina last month, both missed the cut after a brutal two days in Scotland.

DeChambeau, after a slightly-better 5-over 76 on Thursday, struggled to recover in his second round. He made the turn at 1-over on the day, and then made three bogeys on his back nine en route to a 4-over 75. That dropped him to 9-over on the week.

McIlroy, who opened with a 7-over 78 on Thursday, went 6-over through his first six holes on Friday — thanks largely to a triple bogey at the par-5 4th. He finished at 11-over in what was the second-highest 36-hole score at a major championship in his career. McIlroy has now gone a full decade without winning a major, too.

"Obviously got off to the worst start possible today, being 6-over through six," McIlroy said. "But then I played the last 12 holes pretty well, bogey-free. ... When I look back on the two majors that I didn't play my best at, here and the Masters, the wind got the better of me on Friday at Augusta, and then the wind got the better of me the last two days here."