Defending champ Johnson misses cut at Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Janet Gretzky watched from behind the 18th green as Dustin Johnson sailed his third shot onto a slope above the pin flag.
“Roll back down,” the grandmother to Johnson’s two children exclaimed. “Go! Go!”
The ball didn’t oblige, coming to rest 10 feet above the hole.
With that, gone was the “Dustin Double.” The 2020 Masters champion, and pre-tournament favorite, concluded his title defense with rounds of 74-75 and missed the cut by two shots Friday at the 85th Masters Tournament.
“Not very good,” Johnson said. “Mostly just the putter. I three-putted six times in two rounds and you just can’t do that.”
Johnson was inside the cutline with four holes to play but made bogeys on Nos. 15, 17 and 18. He won’t play the weekend at Augusta National for the first time since 2014, and it’s only his second missed cut at the Masters in 11 starts.
“The three-putts killed me. Take them away and I’m 1 under. My speed was awful.”
Koepka’s rushed return ends quickly
Also missing the cut was Brooks Koepka, who left no secret regarding his expectations for the Masters.
“To win,” the four-time major winner said Wednesday. “That’s the only reason I’m here.”
Instead, Koepka and his surgically repaired right knee will have the weekend to recover. He also posted rounds of 74-75 and missed the cut for the first time in six appearances at Augusta National.
The cut was set at 3-over par; 54
players qualified for the weekend.
“How (expletive) disappointed do you think I am?” Koepka said. “I worked
my ass off just to get here, and then to play like this is pretty disappointing.”
Koepka spoke about his knee injury and admitted, “I wouldn’t have been playing for another month if it wasn’t this week. So I’ll take a nice long break after this.”
Koepka confirmed that he plans to compete in next month’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
“I won’t miss it, I know that,” he said. “But it’s tough to say if I’ll play anything before that. It depends how rehab goes.”
Mcilroy, other stars eliminated
Rory Mcilroy shared Johnson and Koepka’s fate, as the 31-year-old was on the outside looking in for the first time since 2010.
This year marked the 10th anniversary of Mcilroy’s historic collapse on the second nine in 2011.
On Friday, Mcilroy’s outcome was again impeded at the 10th hole. Following a center-cut drive, Mcilroy flung his second shot right of the green and into a sea of bushes. He took an unplayable lie and ended up with a double bogey.
Mcilroy, who shot 76-74, remains in search of a green jacket to complete the final piece to his Grand Slam puzzle.
Entering the week, Mcilroy had earned top-10 finishes in six of his last seven Masters appearances, including a tie for fifth in November. But the world’s fourth-ranked player has struggled lately, prompting a change in swing coaches.
Another notable to miss the cut was Patrick Cantlay, who earned a top-10 finish at Augusta National in 2019 and was a consensus top-10 favorite by oddsmakers. Sungjae Im, who tied for second in the November Masters, also won’t play the weekend after rounds of 77-80.
Fred Couples (79-78), Jason Day (7776), Zach Johnson (77-74), Lee Westwood (78-71) and Bernhard Langer (7477) also failed to advance.