Before we get to the sad news of those who are going home empty-handed this week, let’s take a moment to congratulate PGA Tour veteran Nick Watney, who ended a streak of 12 consecutive missed cuts that began at the Valero Texas Open in April. That was the week before the Masters for context. After missing the cut at the 3M Open, Watney said enough was enough and flew to Las Vegas to see instructor Butch Harmon, who quickly found a fix.
“If nothing was wrong and I was just playing terrible, that would have been kind of frustrating to me,” Watney told Golf Digest. “But you go to Butch and he says, ‘Oh, wow, this is pretty messed up,’ you’re like, ‘OK, good. Let’s fix it.’ I mean, where do you go from there if everything looks fine?”
Watney, 41, entered the week at No. 116 in the FedEx Cup standings. He made birdies on five holes in a seven-hole stretch on Thursday en route to posting an opening-round 5-under 67. He made three birdies in shooting even-par 72 on Friday. He’s got a tee time for the weekend.
But not everyone was so fortunate. It took shooting 3-under 141 at Detroit Golf Club for 75 players (top 59 and ties) to survive the 36-hole cut.
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