Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark among surprises to miss cut at 2026 British Open

SOUTHPORT, England – The world’s top-ranked Englishman won’t be around for the weekend at Royal Birkdale.

Matt Fitzpatrick, one of the frontrunners for PGA TOUR Player of the Year, shot 4 over (72-72) in the first two rounds of The Open Championship and will miss the cut.

As of 4 p.m. local (11 a.m. ET), the cut was projected to settle at 1 over.

It’s a sour end to a solid major championship season for Fitzpatrick. He finished top 25 in the first three majors, but this missed cut will be his first at a major since the 2024 PGA Championship. Fitzpatrick last missed a cut at The Open in 2018.

“You've just got to look at three or four holes for me,” Fitzpatrick said. “I've hit decent shots, gotten no luck and come away with 4-over par. That's the way links golf is. You need to have that rub of the green sometimes, and I didn't have it this week.”

Fitzpatrick made back-to-back bogeys at the sixth and seventh holes and made double bogey at the par-3 12th after he was unable to get out of a greenside pot bunker. He wasn’t the only surprising name whose tournament ended early.

Reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark made a valiant charge on the back nine Friday, but was ultimately undone by a pair of double bogeys on the second and third holes. He shot 73-70, 3 over for the tournament. Clark ballooned as high as 7 over after eight holes of his second round, but he birdied the 15th and 16th holes and eagled the 17th to soften the blow.

Meanwhile, a few big names played themselves onto the right side of the cutline. Rory McIlroy shot 67 to nudge into red figures, 1 under overall. McIlroy putted much better than Thursday, when he missed three putts within four feet. He didn’t miss a putt inside 5 feet on Friday and holed a few long ones, including a 22-foot birdie at the 14th.

Sam Burns tied the major championship scoring record, firing 8-under 62 to move from 3 over to 5 under.

Last week's winner Tom Kim will not be playing the weekend after a 73 on Friday, along with PGA Championship winner and Englishman Aaron Rai at 1 over.

Eric Cole shot 76 on Thursday but returned with 64 in the second round to survive at even par.

“We were looking at different flights home,” Cole said of his conversations with his wife last night.

Cole will gladly keep his original flight, but a few others will be unexpectedly searching.