Sometimes, good golf isn’t good enough to make the cut on the PGA Tour.
Take this week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship. There were two players who didn’t complete the second round on Friday due to play being suspended for darkness (delaying the inevitable for many), but in the end shooting two rounds totaling 5-under 137 at Port Royal in Southampton, Bermuda, only got pros an attaboy and thanks for coming. In other words, there will be no paycheck for their work.
Indeed, it took a minimum of 6 under to have weekend plans for the 66 pros and one amateur who moved on from a field of 128 pros and four amateurs. As the old tagline goes, these guys are good.
Of those who survived the 36-hole cut, none may be happier than Scott Gutschewski, who is making his final start on a major-medical extension. The 46-year-old journeyman pro shot 1-under 70 to improve to 7-under 135 to keep alive his hopes of retaining his card. He needs to earn 131 FedEx Cup points with a solo fourth or better to move to the top of the major medical category or a two-way tie for 38th or better to continue playing in the Nos. 126-150 category; should he not reach either of these goals, he will lose his membership.
The round of the day to make the cut belonged to 18-year-old amateur Caleb Surratt, who birdied his final three holes to post a second-round 64 and make the cut in his Tour debut.
Here are some notables who weren’t so fortunate.
Butterfield Bermuda: Leaderboard | Photos
John Daly (5 over)
Daly, 56, was playing in Bermuda on a sponsors exemption and the crowd favorite made six birdies over his 36 holes. Unfortunately, there were a few too many dropped shots and he’s heading home after rounds of 71-76.
On Friday, Daly’s hopes of making the weekend faded quickly: he opened with back-to-back double bogeys and was 5 over through his first four holes. Daly hit just 12 of 28 fairways and ranked 127th of 132 in putting.
Daly hasn’t made a cut on the PGA Tour in his last nine starts dating to the 2019 Barracuda Championship.
Willie Mack III (3 under)
Willie Mack III earned his way into this week’s PGA Tour event by winning an APGA Tour event on the same course a week earlier. A spot in the weekend appeared in his grasp after shooting 4-under 67 on Thursday. He was straddling the cutline on Friday, 1 under for the day and 5 under overall when he made a double-bogey 7 at the short par-5 7th hole. Two pars later and Mack was signing for 1-over 73 and a missed cut in his first start of the new season on Tour.
Harry Higgs (3 under)
Higgs was just two shots off the lead after an opening-round 64 and talked about how he’s been struggling with his game. Unfortunately, he hasn’t quite turned the corner yet. Three bogeys and a double in a five-hole stretch beginning at No. 11 sealed his fate. He finished with a pair of birdies but it was too little, too late: 4-over 75 and sent packing.
When Higgs reviews what went wrong in the second round, he should start with his scrambling. He failed to get up and down in six attempts. That’s a recipe for a missed cut.
Luke Donald (1 over)
The European Ryder Cup Captain had three sixes on Friday, a decent poker hand but not decorating his scorecard. He made a double bogey on each side and bogeyed a par 5 en route to shooting 1-over 72 and missing the cut at his season-opening event on the PGA Tour.
Rude. pic.twitter.com/fsQ19dSA98
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 28, 2022
