Notables who missed the cut at the 2024 Black Desert Championship

The PGA Tour finally got the memo that viewers care about Friday’s cut drama. It took long enough.

Starting with last week’s Golf Channel coverage of the Sanderson Farms Championship, the Tour is testing out highlighting the story of who survives to play the weekend. Overdue is an understatement.

It’s a shame the second round didn’t conclude Friday, with play suspended due to darkness with 19 golfers remaining on the course at the 2024 Black Desert Classic in Ivins, Utah. But before then, we witnessed amateur Kihei Akina sweat over a 10-foot putt at his final hole that he sensed would determine his fate.

“I thought I had to get to 5 just to be safe. The putt on 18 I thought I had to make it,” Akina said. 

Akina didn’t convert in the clutch but Tour winner Daniel Berger did, making birdies at 17 and 18 to shoot 65 and finish on the cutline. Quite the bounce back from a sluggish 72 a day earlier.

Justin Lower needed an eagle at 18 and gave himself a chance, knocking his second at the par 5 to 16 feet but couldn’t get the putt to drop. Agony of defeat.

With the cut delayed, Wesley Bryan gave us Saturday drama. He launched his second at 18 to 15 feet but opted to wait to attempt his do-or-die eagle putt until Saturday morning. Cut Cam, where have you been all our lives? He drained it and is on to the weekend. A second-round 65 is #ClutchCity.

In the end, 69 golfers advanced to the weekend with a score of 5-under 137 or better. Perhaps the views were a bit too distracting. Here’s a look at the notables who are heading home earlier than they wanted from the picturesque Utah mountains after a missed cut.