2021 British Open missed cuts: Phil Mickelson's T151 finish headlines star golfers not playing the weekend
Mickelson was not the only former major winner to struggle at Royal St. George's

While Louis Oosthuizen, Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth pushed the lead further into red numbers on Friday at the 149th Open Championship, several of golf's stars saw their time here at Royal St. George's come to an end with a missed cut. The cut line to send the top 70 plus ties into the weekend landed at 1 over par, leaving the likes of Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson and Harold Varner III all just one shot short of making the weekend.
Former PGA Championship winners Keegan Bradley and Jimmy Walker also landed in that group that finished 2 over following 36 holes, but they were far from the only notable names to miss the cut.
Unfortunately, one of those headliners heading home early is the 2013 Open Championship winner Phil Mickelson. The 10-over 80 Mickelson shot on Thursday during the first round was his worst-ever score at The Open, and that left the 2021 PGA Championship winner with his third missed cut in his last four Open starts. Mickelson did make the cut at the U.S. Open after claiming his sixth major earlier this year, but he hasn't finished in the top 50 in any of his post-PGA starts.
So from the players who missed the cut by a couple strokes to Mickelson and his T-151 finish, here's a run down of some of the notables that won't be in the field this weekend.
Patrick Reed (+3): The pairing of Reed, Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith provided two days of rollercoaster golf, but Smith was able to surge ahead with a second-round 67 as Rory shot a 70 for the second straight day. Reed, however, played Royal St. George's at 1 over and lost five spots on the leaderboard. There were some great shots but not enough made putts both in birdie and par opportunities. Reed has his best-ever Open finish last time out in 2019 (10th), and his talent with the short game suggests this could be a major where he's in the mix to win. Instead, it's a missed cut, his third at The Open in seven starts.
Patrick Cantlay (+3): This is the second missed cut at a major for Cantlay this season, and since finishing T9 at the Masters and T3 at the PGA Championship that followed in 2019, there hasn't been a top-10 finish at a major. Cantlay is an elite talent, a winner at the Memorial in June who ranked as the No. 7 player in the world, but his major performance have not matched the expectations.
Gary Woodland (+3): While he hasn't finished inside the top 30 once in a major this year, he's at least made the cut at the previous three with the best finish being T38 at the PGA Championship. Woodland was well out of the picture when he finally hit a hot streak and birdied No. 16, No. 17 and No. 18 on Friday. Unfortunately, that birdie run brought him to 3 over for the championship and the eight bogeys across 36 holes left him on the wrong side of the cut line.
Jason Day (+5): After putting together a couple good weeks of golf at the Travelers Championship and Rocket Mortgage Classic, Day gave himself no shot with a 75 in the first round. Like Woodland, Day actually improved his final standing on the leaderboard thanks to a late scoring flurry of three birdies across the final five holes. Day has now missed the cut at the Open in two straight starts and twice this year in majors overall.
Matt Kuchar (+6): This marks seven-straight missed cuts at a major for Kuchar, who saw his closest chance to winning a major come at The Open back in 2017 against Spieth. Kuchar actually finished in the top 10 at The Open in both 2017 and 2018 but never was able to be much of a factor here at Royal St. George's.
Phil Mickelson (+12): An actual 80 on Thursday made it highly unlikely Mickelson would make to the weekend, but Friday wasn't a total bust. Mickelson went out in 37 then picked up his first birdies of the championship at No. 11, No. 12 and No. 16. Friday's 72 wasn't good enough to make the cut but it did improve his spot on the leaderboard!
















