PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Jordan Spieth will be at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium course on Saturday, but grudgingly. The three-time major champion won’t be playing the third round of the Players Championship.
Because he is playing the Valspar Championship on the other side of the state, he’s likely headed there Sunday night.
“I can’t stand staying at a place where I just missed the cut,” Spieth said Friday after a 72 had him missing the projected 36-hole cut by three strokes. “But the practice facilities here are good and I’ll do that. Missing is such a bad gauge of where I’m at.”
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Spieth, who is ranked 14th in the world, is on an odd run that saw him get disqualified at the Genesis Invitational, finish tied for 30th last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then have the misfortune of breaking his driver over the weekend.
He didn’t like the replacement, which led to an opening-round 74 followed by two hours on the range Thursday afternoon trying to work it out. It wasn’t enough to get to play the weekend.
While the second round was not completed due to darkness, the cut to 65 players and ties is going to come at 1-under-par 143.
Webb Simpson, who won the tournament in 2018, missed a 6-footer for a birdie on his final hole that would have seen him move on. Instead he finished at even par after a bogey at the 8th hole, his 17th.
Justin Thomas, the 2021 champion, also missed the cut, shooting 74 after an opening 71. Two front-side bogeys (his back nine) doomed him to a missed weekend. He’s also headed to the Valspar Championship.
Nick Dunlap, who won the American Express Championship in January as an amateur and then turn pro, also missed the cut. It is his third missed cut in five starts since his victory.
Justin Rose was on the cut line at 1 under when he hit two balls in the water at the famed 17th hole to miss the cut. And Will Zalatoris, who was in contention last weekend, shot 73-75 to also miss.
