GREENSBORO, N.C. — The ramifications of missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship on Friday, for some, meant the start of the offseason.
Only the top 70 in the season-long FedEx Cup advance to the playoffs next week after 44 regular season events. For Ben Griffin, who entered the week at No. 68, and Austin Eckroat, the “Bubble Boy” at No. 70, they could read the writing on the wall as they struggled to the finish of their morning round in the same threesome.
“The last three holes we tried to determine how many hole-outs we both needed to make the cut, and none of us had a hole-out. I thought I had a good chance of a hole-out on 8,” Griffin said. “But we were joking around towards the end. There’s not much you can do with when you’re four or five out with a few holes to go except try to have fun out there.”
Hope is not completely lost for these two, who will have to sit and wait, hope and pray that they hang on to their precarious rankings. After 36 holes, Griffin still was projected to be Memphis bound at No. 70 while Eckroat is going to need more help as he’s projected to be No. 72.
In all, 74 players moved on to the weekend with a 36-hole total of 2-under 138, including two-time champion Brandt Snedeker, who birdied the final two holes to earn a weekend tee time at 3 under.
Here are some of the notable players this week that weren’t so lucky.
The Japanese star has been feast or famine at Sedgefield. He missed the cut with rounds of 71-74—145, the third straight time he’s left Greensboro early. But when he’s made the cut he’s finished T-11 in 2018, T-3 in 2016 and 15th in his tourney debut in 2013.
Hideki Matsuyama plays his shot from the 12th tee during the second round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club on August 04, 2023 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Logan Whitton/Getty Images)
Matsuyama made a costly double bogey at the par-5 15th, his sixth hole of the day, and then really hit the skids coming home with four bogeys in his final five holes.
For the week, he lost three strokes to the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and struggled around the greens, too, ranking last in the field in SG: Around the Green. He was 5 for 12 in scrambling, athough let’s cut him some slack for his bunker escapades at 15 (see tweet below). His putter was the culprit on Thursday when he lost more than two strokes on the green while taking 34 swipes with the short stick.
Bunker troubles…
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