AUGUSTA, Ga. – Dustin Johnson is scheduled to be in the Butler Cabin on Sunday night, draping his green jacket over the Masters champion’s shoulders.
This will be his only official appearance at Augusta National this weekend.
Johnson – player no. World No. 1 and reigning Masters champion – missed three of his four holes on Friday and missed the cut with two shots. He is the 11th defending champion to miss the 36-hole cut.
“Obviously, I wanted to be around for the weekend,” Johnson said. “I like this golf course. I feel like I play it very well. I just didn’t put it very well. It’s pretty simple.
Johnson was the biggest – though hardly the only big name – to give up.
Lee Westwood’s line of 12 consecutive Masters appearances has ended; he was over 5 years old. So is Rory McIlroy’s run 10 times in a row, playing the weekend at Augusta National; he was over 6 years old and his quest to complete his Grand Slam career will have to wait until 2022. Brooks Koepka leaves home early for the first time in six Masters appearances.
The first 50 players and ties make the cut at the Masters; this year, he was with 3 over or 10 shots behind leader Justin Rose.
Koepka came to Augusta National less than a month away from surgery on his right knee to repair a dislocated patella and some ligament problems. If it weren’t for the Masters, he wouldn’t have played this week – or a few more weeks.
This being Augusta, she took a hit. He shot 75 on Friday, missing the cut with two shots at 5 over.
“How disappointed do you think I am?” Koepka said. “I took out (my ass) just to get here and then play like that is pretty disappointing.”
He will take a long break now. He said he may not try to compete again until the PGA Championship on Kiawah Island, which begins on May 20.
“I won’t miss it, I know that,” Koepka said. “But it’s hard to say if I will play something before that, just for how it feels, how the rehabilitation works and everything.
Johnson’s absence is clearly the biggest surprise heading into the weekend.
He fired a 74 on Thursday and left no margin for error on Friday’s stretch – then needed a miracle that never came. Johnson’s guy in the 18th par-4 landed in a fairway bunker, his approach didn’t even turn green, and his chip he needed to play on the weekend didn’t come close.
That was the end, though not the whole sale.
Johnson reached the green at par-5 on 15 in two – albeit temporarily, with the ball spinning back down the slope, into the water and leading to a bogey that put him right on the 3-over cutting line.
A tee shot in the pine straw on the 17th led to another bogey. Soon it was official. After setting the Masters score record in November last year, finishing 20 under, his title defense ended abruptly.
“I just didn’t do very well,” Johnson said.
Sergio Garcia, in 2018, was the latest Masters champion to return next year and missed the cut. Garcia missed it again this year with a single shot after hitting two of the final four holes.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing because I love the Masters,” Garcia said. “If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t care. You know, it’s just – it would be nice to get a little more love from class sometimes, you know?”
Four of the world’s top 12 players – Johnson, No. 10 Patrick Cantlay, No. 11 Koepka and No. 12 McIlroy – all missed the cut. So did top 20 player Sungjae Im, who tied for second last year, and Dylan Frittelli, who tied for fifth at Augusta National in November last year. I wasn’t even close, I shot 77-80 to miss with 10 shots, and Cantlay was over 8 to miss with five.
Some made it for the first time, including Matt Jones, who shot a 3 under 69 on Friday and a 1 under for the week.
“Making the cut has always been the first goal,” Jones said.
That was the case for everyone. And for 34 of the 88 beginners, it worked like this.
“That’s right,” Garcia said. “Sometimes things don’t want to happen.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.