Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Brian Harman among notables to miss the cut at the Masters

Jordan Spieth made a 9 at the par-5 15th in the first round of the Masters Tournament, matching his highest single-hole score on TOUR, en route to missing the cut by three strokes.

That was a harbinger of the cut-line chaos that unfolded Friday afternoon at Augusta National Golf Club, where 60 players made the cut at 6-over 148 or better. Players to miss the cut also included the last two major champions in Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman, in addition to world No. 6 Viktor Hovland, who carded a second-round 81 that included a three-putt double bogey from 5 feet at the par-5 15th hole, finishing two outside the number at 8-over 152.

Perhaps no player missed the cut in more heartbreaking fashion than Justin Thomas, who played his last four holes in 7-over for a back-nine 42 to miss by one stroke. Thomas was even-par for the tournament as he arrived at the 15th hole late Friday afternoon, but his second shot found the pond fronting the green, leading to a double bogey, which he followed with a double bogey at No. 16, bogey at No. 17 and double bogey at No. 18. It marked Thomas’ fourth missed cut in his last five major starts, and it bore similarities to his missed cut at last year’s Masters, where he also carded a back-nine 42 to miss the cut by one.

As the winds gusted Friday afternoon and the course continually dried out, scoring conditions grew more perilous by the minute. For most of Friday, the cut line looked most likely to settle at 4-over 146. Then it moved to 5-over 147 for a brief period. Then in the waning daylight, the cut line settled at 6-over 148, with 60 players advancing to the weekend at the Masters.

After 36 holes, the Masters field is cut to the low 50 players and ties. The second round finished with 11 players tied for 50th place at 6-over; if any one of these players finished a stroke better, the cut line would have been 5-over. Perilous margins on a perilous afternoon amidst Augusta’s famed loblolly pines, where three players share the lead at 6-under 138: Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa and Bryson DeChambeau.

Playing in Friday’s final grouping, reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark had a chance to become the 61st player onward to the weekend. Following a three-putt bogey at the 17th hole, Clark bombed a drive on the finishing hole and feathered a short iron to 13 feet for a birdie try that would move him to 6-over. The putt tracked toward the hole but turned right at the end, and he joined reigning U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap (who had a 38-foot birdie try at the finishing hole) as 2023 USGA winners to miss the cut by one. Dunlap’s afternoon was not without heroics, as the 20-year-old made birdie at Nos. 13, 15 and 17 (against a bogey at No. 16) in a valiant effort that fell one stroke shy.

Joining Clark, Dunlap and Thomas at 7-over 149, missing the cut by one stroke, were Justin Rose, Sungjae Im, Austin Eckroat, Zach Johnson, Mike Weir, Lee Hodges and Sergio Garcia.

Players to advance on the number (6-over 148) included Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama, Grayson Murray, Si Woo Kim, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jake Knapp, Luke List, Thorbjørn Olesen, Russell Henley and two-time Masters winner Jose Maria Olazábal – who at age 58 overcame a triple bogey at the par-3 12th with a birdie at No. 16 to advance to the weekend.

Vijay Singh (4-over 146) was the oldest player to make the cut, carding rounds of 75-73 at age 61. The 2000 Masters champion will play the weekend at Augusta National for the first time since 2018.

Ohio State’s Neal Shipley, last year’s U.S. Amateur runner-up, advanced to the weekend at 3-over 145, securing low amateur honors as the only of five amateurs in the field to make the cut.

In all, 29 players failed to advance to the weekend, perhaps no name more startling than Spieth, whose game through the years has shown to fit Augusta National’s demands more than most. His missed cut stems back to the mercurial 15th in the opening round. After safely laying up to 77 yards, Spieth missed the green long on his third shot, and his pitch rolled across the green and into the pond fronting the green. He walked all the way back around the pond to play his sixth shot, which again sailed over the green. He chipped on and two-putted for 9, tying the highest single-hole score of his PGA TOUR career.

Spieth began the 15th hole at 2-over, and he ended it at 6-over. He followed the quadruple bogey with a par-bogey-par finish to his first round, and he wouldn’t get any closer to the cut line for the rest of his Masters.

Spieth, 30, reported wrist trouble that affected his preparation for last week’s Valero Texas Open, but he finished T10 anyway in his final start before the Masters. The week began with buzz regarding whether the Texan could recapture the form that produced a win and a pair of runners-up in his first three Masters appearances (2014-16). It wasn’t meant to be, but the good news for Spieth lies within his lifetime Masters invitation per his 2015 victory. He’ll have more chances to earn a second green jacket.

Other notables who finished more than a shot beyond the cut line included Sam Burns (9-over), Harman (9-over) and 1992 Masters winner Fred Couples (12-over).

Burns stood well outside the cut line after an opening-round 80, but he moved to the precipice with birdies on Nos. 10, 12 and 13 in the second round, which put him at 5-over total. The LSU alum made bogey on No. 15, double bogey on No. 16 and bogey on No. 17 to finish outside the line for the second time in three Masters starts.

Harman will lament a back-nine 47 in his opening round, which included a triple bogey on No. 16 followed by back-to-back double bogeys on Nos. 17 and 18. That followed an encouraging 2-under 34 to start the Masters, and he carded a respectable even-par 72 in a blustery second round. Although he was 2-under across three of his four nines, that 47 means the reigning Open champion will sit this weekend out.

Couples has struggled with back issues throughout his career, and this week was no different as he gingerly navigated hilly Augusta National with rounds of 80-76. Couples vowed afterward, though, that he would return again to compete at the Masters. “I'm planning on being healthy and making the cut and telling Fred (Ridley, chairman of Augusta National) I'm coming back the next year, too,” he said afterward.

As a Masters champion, after all, Couples has earned the right to do so.