A foursome of golfers sit tied for third after two days of the Valero Texas Open, and heading into the weekend, the potential to be invited to the Masters is still a possibility.

There are some, however, whose Augusta National dreams were slammed for 2026 along with their trunks at TPC San Antonio.

Bud Cauley, Kevin Roy, Thorbjørn Olesen and Tony Finau are all five shots back of Robert MacIntyre heading into the weekend. And while it’ll be a decent mountain to climb, a win by any of them would punch their ticket to the first major of the year.

For Roy and Cauley, it’ll be their debuts at Augusta National. Finau, meanwhile, has played every major championship since 2018, but after falling to No. 107 in the Official World Golf Ranking and having not recorded a top-10 finish on the PGA TOUR so far in 2026, he’s on the outside looking in with just half of an event left.

Olesen played the Masters last in 2024 – his first start at Augusta National since 2019. Prior to that was another five-year absence from the first major of the year. He shot a tidy 6-under 66 Friday at TPC San Antonio.

Roy shot a 4-under 68 and admitted he’s been struggling with his irons the last few weeks until he found a little something on the range at TPC San Antonio.

“It was kind of something small. I was using a lot more body than arms, so for me it's just feeling I'm using a lot more arms. Something small, nothing crazy,” Roy explained. “I was swinging it bad enough where I was missing a ton of greens and having to scramble a lot, and these first two rounds I've been putting a lot more, which is nice.”

Roy has two top-15 finishes this year, while Cauley has two top-25 finishes since he returned to full-time action. Cauley made an impressive splash in 2025 with four top-six finishes in seven starts through the springtime and made it to the BMW Championship.

Cauley, who shot a 7-under 65 Friday, the second-lowest round of the day, and Roy are still gunning for their first PGA TOUR wins (along with Olesen, although he has won eight times on the DP World Tour) and there is no time like the present for trophy, since one this particular week will also come with one of the most coveted major-championship invitations in the game.

While there are a handful of golfers in the mix through 36 holes looking for a weekend run up the board in Texas – and hopefully a flight to Georgia – there were some notable names who made an early exit. Such is the unfortunate nature of golf at its highest level. If you don’t perform, you don’t receive the same competitive opportunities.

Rickie Fowler shot a 3-over 75 to fall outside the cutline, which came at 2 under. Fowler was 1-over par after two days and will miss the Masters for the second straight year.

Michael Thorbjornsen, who, at No. 54 in the world, fell just outside the top-50 cut off last week to earn a spot at Augusta National, also missed the cut after a 2-over 74 on Friday and will not tee it up at the Masters.

Russell Henley and Sepp Straka, two of the top-ranked golfers in the field this week, will not tee it up on the weekend. Neither will Max Homa, who earned his spot in next week’s Masters after finishing tied for 12th in 2025.

The second round of the Valero Texas Open will conclude Saturday morning as play was suspended due to darkness at 7:55 p.m. local time.