Rickie Fowler among notable names to miss the cut

Before we get to the sad news of those who are going home empty-handed this week, let’s take a moment to congratulate PGA Tour veteran Nick Watney, who ended a streak of 12 consecutive missed cuts that began at the Valero Texas Open in April. That was the week before the Masters for context. After missing the cut at the 3M Open, Watney said enough was enough and flew to Las Vegas to see instructor Butch Harmon, who quickly found a fix.

“If nothing was wrong and I was just playing terrible, that would have been kind of frustrating to me,” Watney told Golf Digest. “But you go to Butch and he says, ‘Oh, wow, this is pretty messed up,’ you’re like, ‘OK, good. Let’s fix it.’ I mean, where do you go from there if everything looks fine?”

Watney, 41, entered the week at No. 116 in the FedEx Cup standings. He made birdies on five holes in a seven-hole stretch on Thursday en route to posting an opening-round 5-under 67. He made three birdies in shooting even-par 72 on Friday. He’s got a tee time for the weekend.

But not everyone was so fortunate. It took shooting 3-under 141 at Detroit Golf Club for 75 players (top 59 and ties) to survive the 36-hole cut.

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Gary Woodland

Jul 29, 2022; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Gary Woodland hits his tee shot on the par 3 ninth hole during the second round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

The former U.S. Open champion missed the cut by one stroke, marking his second straight weekend off and fourth missed cut in his last six starts.

After an opening-round 70, Woodland made a birdie at the fourth hole but gave the stroke back at the fifth. That turned out to be it for the birdies and bogeys as Woodland made par on his final 13 holes to shoot even-par 72.

Woodland drove it just fine, ranking eighth in SG: Off the Tee for 36 holes, but hit only 11 greens on Friday and ranked 129^th in SG: Approach the Green.

Ryan Palmer

Ryan Palmer was inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame recently. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Palmer was inducted to the Texas Golf Hall of Fame last week but that didn’t help him go low this week in MoTown. Palmer shot 71-72—143. A cumulative five birdies and four bogeys just doesn’t cut it when the 36-hole leader is 15 under. Palmer’s putter is to blame for Friday’s 72. He lost more than three strokes…