2023 Players Championship missed cuts: Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick among stars not playing weekend

McIlroy, a former champion at TPC Sawgrass, is one of many to fall short of the cutline

By Patrick McDonald

Mar 11, 2023 at 10:06 am ET • 1 min read

Getty Images

It was far from sunshine and rainbows for everyone at the 2023 Players Championship as a number of the world's best golfers are being sent packing early. Despite the second round being suspended by weather on Friday, extending play for the first 36 holes into the weekend, a number of significant names have missed the cut now that it has been made Saturday afternoon. Follow Players Championship live leaderboard coverage all weekend.

Among those topping the cut list is world No. 3 Rory McIlroy.

The 2019 champion never settled himself at TPC Sawgrass. Opening with a 4-over 76, McIlroy felt uneasy off the tee and failed to find a comfort level with the putter in hand. Never a good combination to bring into a tournament, this left McIlroy struggling to play catch up in his second round. Finishing at 5 over, McIlroy never threatened the 2-over cutline and missed his third cut in his last five Players.

Not Rory's day. pic.twitter.com/kBTrLyYssk
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 10, 2023

U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick joins his Ryder Cup teammate in exiting early. The Englishman improved by five strokes from Thursday to Friday but ultimately signed for a 36-hole total one stroke too high at 3 over. Fitzpatrick will look back to his play from Nos. 14-18 in Round 1 as the main culprit as he played this stretch in 4 over with a water ball on the 17th.

Justin Thomas, Tom Kim, Shane Lowry and Keith Mitchell are among the notables to get through right on the number. For the majority of the round, it appeared those at 2 over would be safe, but some added drama was applied when play halted due to inclement weather. This group was ultimately saved when numerous players faltered in the waning moments of their second rounds Saturday morning.

Keegan Bradley (+4), Kurt Kitayama (+5) and Billy Horschel (+8) round out a total of five players ranked inside the top 25 in the Official World Golf Rankings who missed the cut. This is in addition to Jon Rahm as the world No. 1 was forced to withdraw before his second round due to a stomach illness.