For a second straight year, Justin Thomas painfully missed the cut at the Masters – and proceeded to help a handful of his peers grab weekend tee times at Augusta National when they thought they were heading home early.
With four holes remaining in his second round on Friday, Thomas sat at even par for the tournament, well within the cutline that was projected to fall at five-over-par. Datagolf.com reportedly calculated his odds of making the cut at the time at 99.9 percent.
But then Thomas closed with an improbable collapse, making double-bogeys on the 15th, 16th and 18th holes and a bogey on the 17th. He signed for a seven-over 79 that not only left him outside the cut, but also helped move the cutline from five over to six-over-par, and allowing 11 more players – including Australia’s 2013 champion Adam Scott – to advance to the weekend.
Thomas’ stumble was an ominous bit of déjà vu; a year ago in the second round of the Masters, the two-time major winner played his last eight holes in six-over to also miss the cut by one. In the process, be helped move the cutline from two over to three over, allowing good friend Tiger Woods to extend his consecutive cuts made streak to 22 and match the tournament record held by Fred Couples and Gary Player. (Tiger broke that record on Friday when he made his 23rd straight cut).
Meanwhile, this is the fourth time in his last five major starts that Thomas has failed to make the weekend.
While some were the beneficiaries of Thomas’ misfortune, these other eight notables joined JT in seeing their Masters disappointingly ending after 36 holes. Everyone loves to talk syrupy about the goosebumps they they get when driving down Magnolia Lane and arriving at Augusta National for the year’s first major. No one, however, gets too sentimental about the drive out back to Washington Road when saying good-bye before the weekend.
Masters 2024: Wyndham Clark snuck in a LIV Golf dagger after his one-over 73
Wyndham Clark (7-over)
The reigning US Open champion was making his Masters debut and got off to a reasonable start with an opening-round 73. But the gusty conditions during Friday’s second round seemed to fluster Clark. After a birdie on the second hole to get to even par for the tournament, Clark bogeyed seven of his last 13 holes to miss the cut by one. A 12-footer for birdie on the 18th hole missed wide right, putting him one stroke outside the cut.
Justin Rose (7-over) 
Ben Walton
There was a time early in the 43-year-old Englishman’s career when he seemed destined to win a green jacket; he held the outright lead or a share of it in four of his first 16 round at Augusta. And with six top-10 finishes in his career, including a playoff loss to Sergio Garcia in 2017 and a runner-up to Jordan Spieth in 2015, he feels comfortable at Augusta. But with rounds of 73-78, Rose now has missing his third cut in his last six Augusta starts.
Viktor Hovland (8-over) 
Andrew Redington
The reigning FedEx Cup champion opened with a one-under 71, but Friday’s second round was a far uglier story. There’s no other way to describe it when you play the first five holes in seven over par. Even so, there was still a chance he might make the cut when he was sitting at five over with five holes left, but he then bogeyed the 14th and doubled the 15th en route to a nine-over 81.
Jordan Spieth (9-over) 
J.D. Cuban
After making a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 15th hole en route to an opening-round 79, the 2015 Masters champion’s fate was pretty much sealed. He followed it up with a second-round 73, marking just the second time in his Masters career he had consecutive rounds over par. And also for just the second time in 11 Masters starts, Spieth is heading home early.
Sam Burns (9-over) 
J.D. Cuban
We’re guessing the five-time PGA Tour winner is a little distracted, his wife Caroline due to have the couple’s first child next week. It might help explain his opening 80, which included three double bogeys. To Burns’ credit, he seemed to start to turn things around on Friday, sitting at three =-under for the round. Unfortunately, he then proceeded to bogey No.15, double No.16 and bogey No.17 for a frustrating 73. All the best though to Sam and Caroline in the coming weeks.
Brian Harman (9-over) 
Jamie Squire
Like Spieth, Harman’s hopes to make the weekend blew away in the first-round wind when he shot a back-nine 47 that capped an opening 81(!). It wasn’t what the reigning Open champion was hoping for playing in his first major as a major winner, and he certainly figured being a former University of Georgia All-American might bring with it a little more luck. But Harman’s record at Augusta – three missed cuts in five starts – hinted this could be a tough week for the Big Game Hunter.
Bubba Watson (10-over) 
Maddie Meyer
Throughout Watson’s career, he’s been the proverbial horses-for-courses player, with Augusta National being a favorite destination. So it is that this is just the third time in 16 career starts that the two-time Masters champ has missed the cut. Friday’s second round was particularly cruel, an eight-over 80 that was his worst score in 58 career rounds at Augusta and included a double-quad-double stretch on Nos. 10-12.
Dustin Johnson (13-over) 
[Ben Walton]
Johnson got off to a hot start in 2024, finishing fifth and first in LIV Golf’s opening two events. But he was outside the top-20 in his last three LIV appearances, perhaps foreshadowing this week’s struggles at Augusta.
Rounds of 78-79 caused him to miss the cut for the second time in four starts since his 2020 Masters triumph. DJ might have joked with Masters chairman Fred Ridley how his record winning score of 20-under in that November triumph would be safe this week. It was certainly something he wasn’t going to touch.
