Cut claims trio of golf's top players
Web posted
Sunday, April 10, 2005
A reporter asked Els how he would feel if he didn't make the cut.
His response: "It's going to be 4-over. I'm playing."
He sounded confident then, but standing outside the clubhouse a little later, he said to his caddie, Ricci Roberts, "I guess I'll go see if we're in."
Els - the No. 3 player in the world - found good news when he checked the leaderboard. He'd snuck into the third round at the cut line.
Three of the top 10 players in the world weren't so lucky. No. 6 Padraig Harrington, No. 7 Sergio Garcia and No. 8 David Toms were among the 43 players who missed the 4-over par cut.
Chris DiMarco held the second-round lead at 10-under.
Harrington finished the first round at even par, but shot 77 in the second to finish one shot above the cut line. A birdie on No. 9 - Harrington's final hole - couldn't make up for his four bogeys and one double bogey in the second round. He and Garcia tied for 51st.
Garcia got into trouble in the first round, shooting 5-over par. The Spaniard made five birdies in the second round, but a bogey and two double bogeys (Nos. 10 and 18) sent him on a disappointing trip home instead of into the third round.
"I've got nothing to say," Garcia said as he walked toward the clubhouse.
It was the second missed cut in the past six Masters for Garcia, one of the pre-tournament favorites.
Toms, who is fourth on this year's PGA Tour money list after a win at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, shot 77 in the first round and 75 in the second to finish tied for 64th at 8-over par.
Players Championship winner Fred Funk couldn't parlay any of the magic from his last tournament into this one. Funk went 3-over par through six holes of the second round Friday and ended up 6-over par for two rounds.
Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal went from losing in a playoff in last week's BellSouth Classic to shooting 77-76 and missing the cut by five shots.
Davis Love III (7-over), Augusta native Charles Howell (5-over), John Daly (10-over) and former No. 1 David Duval (8-over) were other notable players who missed the cut. Duval's 75-77 was a marked improvement from last year's 79-83, but he said the weather delays made it difficult for him to get into a rhythm.
"It is that much more difficult if you're not on top of your game," said Duval, who hasn't won a PGA Tournament since the 2001 British Open. "It's a little easier if you're on top of it. I was quite disappointed in my scores because I know I'm doing what I want to do. I just didn't quite piece it together."
Fred Couples extended his streak of making the Masters cut to 21 straight years. It ties him with Tom Watson for second-longest in tournament history behind only Gary Player's 23 in a row.
Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.
