As game's best players arrive for U.S. Open week, they find the cruelest cut of all

Unbeknownst to many, the rule allowing those within 10 shots of the 36-hole lead to play on the weekend has been eliminated since last year.

Rory McIlroy is one that is in danger of missing the cut at Olympic Club. (Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO – For an organization that leans on the letter of the law, waves the rulebook around like the Bible and provides little wiggle room on the strict interpretation of its regulations, the USGA certainly didn’t handle its new cut revision at the U.S. Open very well.

When players and media arrived this week, many learned for the first time that the USGA had eliminated the rule allowing any player within 10 strokes of the lead to play on the weekend.

As a classic case in point, when Phil Mickelson noted that he would need a huge rally to make the 36-hole cut, he was asked about the elimination of the rule. As of this year, the cut will include only the low 60 players and ties.

"Honestly, I haven't looked," Mickelson said. "If there might be a note or something, I don't know. I haven't really looked at it."

The USGA said it included news of the change in the entry sheet sent to players months ago.

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"It was certainly something that was in the application for entry," USGA chief Mike Davis said on Thursday. "And I think I know it was in the player memo."

I think I know? Nothing like using declarative terms.

At any rate, the change was largely news to the throng of news media arriving this week from the four corners of the globe. The Associated Press reported that the local rules sheet posted in the player locker room has no mention of the revision.

The thrust of the rule tweak was to cut down the number of players on the weekend, which has topped 100 at certain points because of the 10-shot rule. Obviously, the pace of play can become a weekend issue with that many players clogging up the course. 

Not everybody was pleased, of course.

PGA Tour veteran Joe Ogilvy, who was playing behind Tiger Woods' threesome on Thursday, made his points pretty clear on his Twitter account.

"At the U.S. Open, there should be a 10-shot rule. What is the downside?" he wrote. "Not like a pace-of-play issue. Amateurs running pro event."