PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Xander Schauffele flirted with the cut line for the second straight day and the world No. 3 snuck through to extend his cut streak to 59 in a row.
“I was thinking about the cut line for sure,” Schauffele said. “Knew I needed to make birdie.”
The cut fell at 1-under 143 with half of the field of 144 advancing to the weekend at the 2025 Players Championship.
Joel Dahmen improved from 76 in the first round to 66 or as he put it, 10 strokes better.
“I was very aware of where the cut was,” Dahmen said. “I made the eight- or 10-ish footer, whatever at the last and Geno (Bonnalie) was like, ‘That was huge.’”
The 10-stroke improvement from round one to round two paled in comparison to Justin Thomas who went from 78 to a course-record-tying 62.
“Making the cut is a really, really big deal,” Thomas said. “I just wanted a tee time on the weekend.”
Not everyone was so fortunate. Peter Malnati was 3 under stepping to the 18th tee at the Pete Dye layout but found the water and made triple bogey and was sent packing.
Dahmen explained why making the weekend mattered for him. “There’s a lot of points this weekend. There’s a lot of money this weekend. The leaderboard is pretty bunched right now. So a good weekend can go a long ways,” he said. “We all hate missing cuts. The grind of making a cut is very satisfying. Yeah, so I’m going to sleep well tonight.”
Many other notables won’t sleep so easy thinking about what went wrong at TPC Sawgrass.
Big names who missed the cut at TPC Sawgrass
Justin Rose
Making his 20th start at the Players, Rose shot 71-73 and missed the cut for the second straight year at the Players and third time in the last four years. He ranked T-115 in proximity to the hole.
Hideki Matsuyama
The Japanese star got off to a horrendous start, playing the first five holes of the first round in 5 over. He battled back but it wasn’t enough. He shot 74-70, and struggled with his putter, ranking T-111 in SG: Putting. Matsuyama had finished T-5 and sixth the last two years at the Players. It’s the third time in 10 starts that he’s missed the cut at TPC Sawgrass.
Sam Burns
Burns made nine bogeys in two rounds and couldn’t make enough birdies at TPC Sawgrass. He shot 73-72. He ranked 133rd of 144 in SG: Approach the Green. He heads to the Valspar next week where he is a two-time champion.
Adam Scott
Making his 23rd start at the Players, Scott, the 2004 champ, missed the cut for just the fifth time. He shot 74-72. Blame the iron game. Scott ranked 132nd in SG: Approach the Green and T-135 in proximity.
Ludvig Aberg
The Swede was among the tournament favorites at the start of the week but he shot 71-75 and has a short trip home since he lives locally. Three doubles on Friday – at Nos. 4, 10 and 16 – did him. It was an off week with the irons and his short game let him down – he ranked No. 134 in SG: Around the Green. It’s Aberg’s first missed cut since last year’s British Open in July.
Viktor Hovland
The Norwegian shot 80 on Thursday and a 68 wasn’t enough to earn a weekend tee time. Hovland missed his third straight cut and hasn’t made the weekend in a tournament with a cut yet this season. Hovland struggled with the big stick, ranking 142nd in SG: Off the Tee in the first round. Hovland said he’s still trying to find answers and regain the form that made him the 2023 FedEx Cup champion.
“I’ve seen good improvements just in the last week but it’s going to need some time and work to get it back to where it was,” Hovland said. “Really working on the mechanical things to get it back to where I can be able to predict the ball flight. I don’t know how many tournaments I will be filling in. I have been seeing better results in practice, which is promising, because my philosophy is if I can’t hit the shots in practice there is really no point for me to play tournaments. At least now I’m seeing some improvements in practice.
Will he play next week at the Valspar? “Still thinking about it, “he said. “I’m registered so we will see.”
Brian Harman
The Georgia Bulldog was a runner-up last year but this time shot 73-77 at the Players. It’s just the fourth time in 13 appearances that Harman hasn’t made the weekend. It’s also just his second missed cut in nine starts this season. Harman’s game was subpar across the board: SG: Tee to Green (124); SG: Approach (129); and SG: Around the Green (122).
Matt Fitzpatrick
The Englishman missed the cut for the third time in the last four years at the Players. He shot 78-72. He made three double bogeys on Thursday. He ranked 138th in SG: Off the Tee on Thursday and his scrambling was not much better – 5 of 13 and ranked T-137.
Max Homa
Homa shot 79-71 and missed his fourth straight cut on Tour. He shot himself out of the tournament quickly by carding 42 on the front nine on Thursday. Homa continues to struggle with the driver, ranking T-138 in SG: Tee to Green in his first round and hitting just 4 fairways on Friday.
Tony Finau
Finau’s ninth appearance at the Players was a bust as he shot 76-76. The stats for Finau tell a troubling story as he ranked 130th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and even worse in SG: Approach the Green, losing more than six strokes to the field and ranking 140th.
Wyndham Clark
Technically, this will go down as a withdrawal and not a missed cut, but Clark, a runner-up here last year, was 4-over through nine holes when he withdrew citing a neck injury.
