DeChambeau misses cut

Bryson DeChambeau got to the 18th tee on Friday needing only a bogey to survive the Masters cut, then made triple bogey and was gone before the weekend even started. He finished 36 holes at 6 over par, two shots outside the cut line at Augusta National. (sports.yahoo.com) (espn.com) The collapse was brutal because the math was simple. The Masters sends the top 50 players and ties to Saturday and Sunday, and DeChambeau was still on the right side of that number until the last hole of his second round. (sports.yahoo.com) On that 18th hole, he hit a wood off the tee and missed right into the trees, then punched out toward the front-left greenside bunker. From there, the hole kept getting worse instead of stopping at bogey. (golfdigest.com) (sports.yahoo.com) That ending erased a round that had actually dragged him back into the fight. His second-round card was a 2-over 74, and a late birdie on 17 had put him in position to make the weekend before the final-hole mistake. (espn.com) (sports.yahoo.com) The trouble really started a day earlier. DeChambeau opened with a 4-over 76 on Thursday, and the score blew up at the 11th hole when he needed three shots to get out of a greenside bunker and made triple bogey. (espn.com) (bearswire.usatoday.com) That is why the miss feels bigger than one bad swing on one Friday. He came to Augusta after back-to-back LIV Golf wins in Singapore and South Africa, and he had been treated as one of the week’s real threats, not a fringe name trying to sneak into the weekend. (golfdigest.com) (espn.com) He also arrived with some of the same Bryson theater that always follows him. He told reporters before the tournament that he was building his own clubs, and ESPN reported he put a 3D-printed 5-iron in the bag for the Masters. (golfdigest.com) (espn.com) That made the result look even stranger because Augusta had just given him a huge stage a year ago. In 2025, he was in the final pairing on Sunday with Rory McIlroy, and their round became one of the tournament’s side stories when DeChambeau said afterward that McIlroy did not speak to him during the round. (golfdigest.com 1) (golfdigest.com 2) Now that storyline is gone for 2026 because DeChambeau is out and Rory McIlroy has surged to the front. Golf Digest reported McIlroy built a six-shot lead after 36 holes, so the weekend picture changed from a possible star chase to everyone else trying to reel in one leader. (golfdigest.com)