Players Championship Cut Line: Rory McIlroy Is Out, Tiger Woods Is in
The world's No. 1 player, Rory McIlroy, was among the many marquee names that missed the cut at The Players Championship on Friday, while Tiger Woods had a very good round today and has a fighting chance going into the weekend.
McIlroy followed yesterday's even-par 72 with a four-over 76. Yesterday he made four birdies and two bogeys, but on the Island Green, McIlroy visited the water and made a double-bogey five which dropped him to even-par for the day.
Today he started on the 10th green and made a birdie to get off to a quick start. But that was all he could muster as he bogeyed five holes the rest of the way and his frustration was visible as he played his round.
He now has missed the cut all three times he has played this tournament. It was hi first missed cut in over year—the last time he missed the cut was at the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship.
Since then, he has played 22 tournaments where he tallied three wins 11 top fives, and two top 10s. All this helped him climb for the first time in his career to the top spot in the official world golf rankings.
Meanwhile Tiger Woods played much better today as he shot a four-under 68 and got in the red number to finish with a total of two-under-par for the tournament.
He birdied holes eight through 11 and at that point was already at four-under. But on the par-four 14th hole, he got in trouble from the tee reaching the right rough and then overshooting the green.
This led to a bogey on the hole, but he was able to gain that stroke back on the par-five 16th hole. He left his approach second shot just 22 yards from the hole and his third shot was within seven feet of the cup.
He sank the birdie-putt and finished his round later on at two-under for the tournament. A very good confidence boost for Woods who is six shots behind the co-leaders Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Kevin Na.
And if we know something about the Stadium Course is that is difficult to hold on to the leads here. This gives Woods a good chance to contend during the weekend.
The Stadium Course monster frustrated many of the world's top players today as they could not solve the riddle of this tough course and got eliminated from the tournament.
Among the notable players that danced around the cut line today, but finally made it at even-par, were: Justin Rose, Jason Dufner and Sergio Garcia.
Among the notables missing the cut were current FedEx Cup points leader Hunter Mahan, the defending champ K.J. Choi, Webb Simpson, Steve Stricker, Jason Day and Ernie Els.
Below you'll find a list of some of the notables who missed the cut today and their scores.
The Players Championship 2012, TPC at Sawgrass
Notables missing the even-par cut line.
| Grame McDowell | 1 | 74 | 71 |
| Ben Crane | 1 | 67 | 78 |
| Padraig Harrington | 1 | 69 | 76 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 1 | 71 | 74 |
| Jason Day | 1 | 73 | 72 |
| Webb Simpson | 2 | 73 | 73 |
| Kyle Stanley | 2 | 73 | 73 |
| Vijay Singh | 3 | 73 | 74 |
| Ernie Els | 4 | 74 | 74 |
| Rory McIlroy | 4 | 72 | 76 |
| Brandt Snedeker | 6 | 76 | 74 |
| Steve Stricker | 6 | 76 | 74 |
| Hunter Mahan | 6 | 74 | 76 |
| K.J. Choi | 7 | 75 | 76 |
| Mark Wilson | 7 | 74 | 77 |
| Aaron Baddeley | 11 | 78 | 77 |
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