KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Is it time to worry?
Dustin Johnson more than likely won’t spend any time fretting over his current state, but the world No. 1’s recent struggles continued as he shot 76-74 to miss the cut in the 103rd PGA Championship on The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
The man with 24 PGA Tour titles, two majors and plenty of firepower collected just three birdies in 36 holes – a number matched by his double bogeys. A look at his stats shows he didn’t do anything well except for driving distance.
Johnson, who won four times in 2020, including his second major at the Masters, has now gone seven starts on the PGA Tour without a top 10, a stretch that includes two missed cuts and three finishes of 48th or worse. Last week, he withdrew from the AT&T Byron Nelson citing knee discomfort but said earlier this week he was fine and was playing well.
He is the first world No. 1 to miss consecutive cuts in majors since Greg Norman trunk slammed in the Masters and U.S. Open in 1997.
Others heading home include world No. 2 Justin Thomas, No. 4 Xander Schauffele and major champions Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott.
As the winds died down a bit late in the afternoon and into the evening, the cut number ticked lower, moving from 3 over to 4 over and settling on 5 over.
The top 70 and ties made it to the weekend. That means 81 of the 156 players who started on Thursday advance.
Among those making it on the number were 2015 PGA champ Jason Day, 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed and 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson, who rolled in a 20-footer for birdie on his last to get to 5 over.
They have a chance to win the Wanamaker Trophy – however remote it may be.
Here are the notables who don’t.