McIlroy, Matsuyama among marquee names to miss Players cut

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, United States: Three of the world’s top-10 in Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama, along with five-time major-winner Phil Mickelson, found themselves with the weekend off after missing the cut in the Players Championship on Friday.

World number six Fowler had to use a pair of binoculars in unsuccessfully trying to locate his golf ball in a palm tree on the sixth hole at TPC Sawgrass – his 15th of the day.

He ended up with the first of back-to-back double-bogeys, his one-under round of 71 giving the 2015 winner of the tournament a one-over total that saw him miss the cut by two shots.

World number eight McIlroy went into his second round at one-under par but after six straight opening pars the Northern Ireland star found himself outside of the cut-off mark with back-to-back bogeys at the seventh and eighth.

Four birdies and two more bogeys from the ninth through the 16th saw him arrive at the 17th even for the day and flirting with the cut.

However, his tee shot into the island green at 17 hit the front of the putting surface and spun back into the water.

The 29-year old recorded a double-bogey and signed for a 74 that saw him join Fowler at oneover.

Japan’s Matsuyama, ranked ninth in the world, bounced back from a first-round 79 with a 69 – but he, too, took a double-bogey at 17 and missed the cut for the second week in a row.

Mickelson, like Matsuyama, had opened with a 79, admitting his battle for a share of fifth at Quail Hollow last week had left him tired. Mickelson’s more respectable 73 on Friday never put him in range of the cut line.