AUGUSTA, Ga. — Friday at a major championship is always a battle on two fronts. There are players at the top jockeying for spots in contention to win heading into the weekend and others grinding it out to earn a tee time for Saturday and Sunday. Dominating the former category was Rory McIlroy, who has opened up a historic six-shot lead after 36 holes at the 2026 Masters. On the other end, the two most notable names flirting with the cut line entering Friday were Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, who both sat outside the top 50 and ties after struggling mightily in the first round.
Rahm was off first, and while he couldn’t make a significant charge, his 2-under 70 was just enough to get him to the weekend on the cut number at 4 over.
DeChambeau slipped to 5 over after an opening bogey but scored birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 to seemingly get inside the number. Though he again flirted with the cut with a bogey on the second nine, he birdied the 15th and again seemed to be poised for another 36 holes at Augusta National. And then he reached the 18th, where his drive found the pine straw and his approach reached the bunker, where his woes continued after making triple bogey on the 11th in Round 1.
In what became DeChambeau’s closing hole of this Masters, he left his first attempt short only to see his second roll back off the green into the fairway. He was unable to hole the ensuing chip he needed to slide inside the cut line, instead scoring his second tiple of the week, a 7 on the last to move to 6 over.
Akshay Bhatia was cruising along at 2 under when he made the turn on Friday, but after going 7 over in his first seven holes on the second nine (including a pair of doubles), a hole-out from the bunker on No. 17 got him back inside the number. Unfortunately, Bhatia went on to bogey the 18th, falling back outside the cut on what became his last hole of these Masters.
With all of those big names escaping the indignity of an early exit from Augusta National, the most notable thing about cut day at the 2026 Masters was the fact that there will not be a low amateur trophy handed out this week. None of the six amateurs in the field made the cut, with Ethan Fang and Jackson Herrington tying for the best score by an amateur this week at 8 over.
2026 Masters cut line: Notable players missing weekend
- Bryson DeChambeau (+5)
- Akshay Bhatia (+5)
- J.J. Spaun (+5)
- Harry Hall (+5)
- Bubba Watson (+5)
- Nicolai Højgaard (+6)
- Robert MacIntyre (+7)
- Cameron Smith (+7)
- Daniel Berger (+8)
- Min Woo Lee (+11)