Name Dropping

spieth, mcllroy among top guns to miss weekend

Boy, did Jordan Spieth give it a good run. And boy, did it feel like a gut punch the way it ended — just as it did for so many marquee names who missed the cut this week at the U.S. Open out at Shinnecock Hills.

Spieth went on a torrid run late in his second round Friday afternoon, recording four consecutive birdies on the back nine to get well inside the cut line. But then he bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18, missing putts within 10 feet on each of them, to finish 9over and miss the cut by one shot.

Having just missed the 18th green and having his ball come to rest near a bunker, Spieth stubbed a chip shot that left him with a tricky putt. He missed it, and the groans of the big crowds were only matched by the disappointment in the 24year-old’s face.

It wasn’t too long ago that Spieth was the best putter on the planet. But it has absolutely gone sideways this season, coming into the week ranked 190th in strokes-gained putting, losing an average of .444 shots to the field per round. It came up to bite him this week.

But he wasn’t alone in his misery, with a large group of big names led by Tiger Woods missing the cut. World No. 6 Rory McIlroy actually put together a nice second-round 70, but it wasn’t good enough to get over his first-round 80. McIlroy made four birdies on his final nine holes, shooting 31, but it was too little too late.

“I felt like my game was good coming in here. I think I was just blown away by the wind [Thursday],” McIlroy said. “That was the thing. I mean, I haven’t played in wind like that for quite a long time. I just felt like I couldn’t hit it far enough left or right to allow for the wind.”

If one of the ideas coming in was that Shinnecock was going to favor the longer hitters, then McIlroy dispelled that notion with help of fellow bombers Bubba Watson (11-over) and Jason Day (12-over), who also missing the cut.

Shinnecock also ate up some of the favorite picks going into the week, with John Rahm shooting 15-over, and fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia shooting 14-over. Adam Scott shot 13-over after he had to go through qualifying to ensure a 68th straight major championship appearance, second only to Garcia’s current record of 76 straight.

Two-time U.S. Open winner Ernie Els was a special exemption and shot 17-over, beating just 25 players in the field.

AP; Getty Images TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: Jordan Spieth was seven strokes better Friday than Thursday, while Rory McIlroy (right) improved by 10 strokes on his first-round score, but both will be on the outside looking in for the final two rounds of the U.S. Open.