ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — The fall portion of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season comes to an end this Sunday with the conclusion of the RSM Classic at Sea Island Resort. But for some players, the end came prematurely with a Friday missed cut.
Sixty-nine golfers from a field of 155 are on to the weekend and a chance to hoist a trophy and collect a winner’s check for $1.24 million. That should make Thanksgiving turkey taste a little better. But it took some quality golf to be in the trophy hunt, as 4-under 138 was necessary to survive the 36-hole cut after a round at Sea Island’s Seaside Course and Plantation Course. Here’s a closer look at some of those who weren’t so lucky.
RSM Classic: Leaderboard
Matt Kuchar (3 under)
Kuchar, a former St. Simons Island resident and still a Sea Island club member, missed his first cut since the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August. He scattered four birdies and four bogey on the card in shooting even-par on a cold, windy day at the Seaside Course. His putter was almost as cold as the weather, for he took 28 putts and finished on the negative side in Strokes Gained: Putting. There is no Shotlink data for the Plantation Course, but safe to say he was in the negative again on Friday as he took 31 putts. Kuchar made par on his first nine holes of the day, and even a 3-under 33 coming home wasn’t enough to make the cut.
Jason Day (1 under)
Day’s week was spoiled by a three-hole trip on the bogey train Thursday. His card shows three bogeys from Nos. 13-15 at Seaside Course, which resulted in a 4-over 74.
Day rallied with six birdies on Friday, but it wasn’t enough. He shot 67, but his 36-hole total of 1-under 141 meant he would be hitting the road early for home. It snapped a streak of four consecutive made cuts, during which Day’s worst result was a T-21 in Mexico.
Webb Simpson (1 under)
Simpson’s ace on Thursday and 67 in round one must have felt like a distant memory a day later.
Simpson made a triple bogey at Seaside’s second hole and two double bogeys en route to shooting 4-over 74 to miss the cut.
Simpson hit just 7 of 14 fairways (T-130) on Friday and had the putting day from hell —he took 35 swipes at it and lost more than 4 strokes to the field on the greens. It marked the first time in 11 starts at the RSM Classic that Simpson has missed the cut.
Zach Johnson (1 under)
Johnson’s round on Friday went off the rails with a triple bogey at the par-4 fifth hole at Seaside Course. Unfortunately, it was his second seven on the card in 36 holes —he also doubled the par-5 18th at the Plantation Course.
Johnson, who signed for 2-over 72 on Friday, has played in all 13 editions of the RSM Classic and missed the cut for the fourth time.
Tom Hoge (1 over)
Hoge capped off his feast or famine fall season. He registered four top-13 finishes, with a best of T-4, but ended the fall session of the schedule with back-to-back missed cuts.
Hoge, who was T-4 here last year and finished 10th in the 2021-22 FedEx Cup, made seven bogeys and a double bogey through 36 holes.
Cameron Champ (3 over)
Cameron Champ played the RSM Classic for the first time since 2019, when he finished sixth. This time, Champ played more like a chump.
Whether he was playing the Plantation Course on Thursday or the Seaside Course on Friday, he made a double bogey on the par-4 10th hole.
Champ has struggled this season. This marked his fifth missed cut in six starts during the fall portion of the 2022-23 season.
