CROMWELL, Conn. — With all due respect to Denny McCarthy, who shot 60 and 65 in the first two rounds of the 2023 Travelers Championship, you would think that if the player ranked No. 33 on the Official World Golf Ranking is tearing up TPC River Highlands, star players and major winners must be going seriously-low too. Some are, like 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley, who co-leads with McCarthy at 15 under, and Adam Scott, who is T-5 after carding 62-68 in the opening rounds.
However, several big-name players struggled to keep up with the birdie-fest in Connecticut and will have the weekend off after missing the cut, which was 4 under (136).
Travelers: Photos
Collin Morikawa: 74-63 (3 under)
Collin Morikawa simply dug himself a hole on Thursday that was too deep to dig out of on Friday. After hitting a great shot on 16 and making a 7-foot birdie putt in the opening round, Morikawa found the water on 17 which led to a double-bogey six and a 4-over score. On Friday, everything was clicking for the 2021 British Open champion, but a bogey-free 7-under 63 left him at 3 under overall, one shot above the cutline.
Max Homa: 72-65 (3 under)
Like Morikawa, Homa made a desperate comeback on Friday and shot a bogey-free 65 after a disappointing 2-over 72 on Thursday. On the 18th green, he needed to make a 19-foot birdie putt to get his overall score to 4 under and inside the cutline, but the ball rolled past the left edge of the cup and then turned to the right. The par putt left Homa, who is currently ranked No. 9 on the Official World Golf Ranking, at 3 under.
Kurt Kitayama: 71-66 (3 under)
Kurt Kitayama won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in early March, but since that victory, he has now missed the cut at the Players Championship, Masters Tournament, RBC Heritage, the Memorial and the U.S. Open. The lone bright spot was a T-4 at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill in May. Kitayama had a 14-foot birdie chance on 17 and a 17-foot birdie putt on 18 Friday, and if he had made either, he would have made the cut. He missed both.
Jon Rahm: 67-71 (2 under)
Before the tournament started, Jon Rahm said that if the Travelers Championship was not a designated event, he would have skipped playing it because, coming the week after the U.S. Open, he anticipated feeling drained. Rahm also said that he gets more fulfillment from playing well on courses where birdies are hard to earn, and he appeared frustrated at several points during play Thursday and Friday. A 1-over 71 has given Rahm a headstart on a scheduled two-week break from competition.
Tommy Fleetwood: 69-69 (2 under)
After losing in a playoff at the RBC Canadian Open and then finishing T-5 at last week’s U.S. Open, Fleetwood appeared to be running out of energy at some points at the Travelers Championship. By his standards, Fleetwood’s iron game was not sharp and finding the water on the eighth hole (his 17th) on Thursday lead to a costly double bogey.
Kevin Streelman: 65-72 (3 under)
Kevin Streelman won the Travelers Championship back in 2014 thanks to a run of seven birdies in a row to finish his back nine on Sunday. This year he started strong by making birdie on his first three holes and shooting 65 Thursday. But Streelman found the water off the tee on 15 Friday, then made bogey on 16 and 18 for a 72 that left him one shot over the cutline.
