2023 Players Championship missed cuts: Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick among stars not playing weekend

The 2023 Players Championship was far from sunshine and rainbows for everyone as a number of the world’s best golfers head out for an early game. Although the second round was suspended due to weather conditions on Friday, extending play on the first 36 holes into the weekend, a number of big names missed the cut after it was made on Saturday afternoon. Stay tuned for the Players Championship leaderboard live stream all weekend.

Among those who top the clipping list is world No. 3 Rory McIlroy.

The 2019 champion never settled into TPC Sawgrass. Starting at 4-over-76, McIlroy felt uncomfortable with the tee and was unable to find a comfortable level with stick in hand. This was never a good combination to enter the tournament, causing McIlroy to struggle to catch up in the second round. Finishing with 5 overs, McIlroy never threatened the 2 overs line and missed his third cut in his last five.

US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick joins his Ryder Cup teammate who dropped out early. The Englishman improved by five strokes from Thursday to Friday but ended up signing for a 36-hole total with one stroke more than 3 more. Fitzpatrick will remember his 14-18 run in Round 1 as the main culprit as he played that stretch in the 4th waterball over on the 17th.

Justin Thomas, Tom Kim, Shane Lowry and Keith Mitchell are among the celebrities who walked right through the number. For most of the round it looked like those with 2 more would be safe, but some added drama came when play was stopped due to inclement weather. This group was ultimately saved when many players faltered in the final moments of their second rounds on Saturday morning.

Keegan Bradley (+4), Kurt Kitaema (+5) and Billy Horschel (+8) round out a total of five top 25 players in the Official World Golf Rankings who did not make the list. This is in addition to John Rahm as the world No. 1 was forced to pull out before the second round due to a stomach ailment.

2023 Players known to have missed cuts