The 2025 Dubai Desert Classic began with a superb field containing some of the top talent from all over the world, but at the halfway stage a number of significant names have been left without weekend tee times.
At the top of the leaderboard, Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson and New Zealand’s Dan Hillier have created a small gap from the large chasing pack – sitting on 12 and 11-under respectively. Meanwhile, 22 other players are looking up at them on between five and eight-under-par.
Among that group are the likes of Tyrrell Hatton, Shaun Norris and Laurie Canter as well as Min Woo Lee, Rasmus Hojgaard, Patrick Reed, Tom McKibbin and Tommy Fleetwood.
Pre-tournament favorite Rory McIlroy has not rolled out his best stuff over the first couple of days, languishing nine strokes behind leader, Ferguson with only 36 holes remaining.
The four-time Major champion was not the only one who made hard work of edging through, as Akshay Bhatia (two-under) and Nicolai Hojgaard (E) also toiled to pick up a paycheck.
Last year after 36 holes: 10 shots behindThis year after 36 holes: 9 shots behindDon’t rule out Rory. #HeroDubaiDesertClassic | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/EkpjQopArMJanuary 17, 2025
But the Northern Irishman knows he is still in the contest, unlike several of his Ryder Cup peers and a couple of other household names who have been required to pack up early after failing to cross the cut line of even par.
Here are nine big names who ultimately missed the cut at the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
JON RAHM (+2)
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Rahm was in a comfortable position after his opening round, having carded a three-under score of 69 and looking as if he was easing himself into the tournament nicely. However, a rotten Friday saw the Spaniard shoot a five-over 77 and put himself out.
Speaking after, he said: “[Thursday] was good. I was quite happy with it. Today, not really. I wouldn’t say that there was anything that went well. No part of the game today was even average to what I would like to feel. Missed too many fairways. I had two penalty strokes on the same hole. It’s a difficult day and I just couldn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities I had.”
THRISTON LAWRENCE (+2)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Lawrence began with a 71 in his opening round of the year but fell foul of the…
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