Johnson, McIlroy, Day make Open history for all wrong reasons

Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day made the wrong kind of history at the U.S. Open.

They're all leaving early.

For the first time since the Official World Golf Ranking began in 1986, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 all missed the cut in a major. 

• Leaderboard: U.S. Open

Johnson capped off this collective failure with a late collapse on the back nine at Erin Hills, making three bogeys over a five-hole stretch and closing with a 73.

He three-putted on No. 13. He hammered a chip from just short of the par-5 14th that led to another three-putt bogey. And then he came up short of the 17th green and dropped one more shot that sent him home early to spend time with his newborn son.

Day and McIlroy never had much of a chance either, both out of the picture before Johnson even teed off.

Leaders

Paul Casey rode a roller-coaster to the second-round clubhouse lead at the U.S. Open on Friday, surviving a hair-raising trip that included a gut-wrenching triple-bogey and a thrilling run of five straight birdies at the Erin Hills course in Wisconsin.
 
The Englishman eventually signed for 1-under 71 and finished the day tied for first with Brian Harman, Tommy Fleetwood and Brooks Koepka.

Lurking at 5-under was a pack including young South Korean Kim Si-woo, who recovered from an early bogey by stringing together three straight birdies through the turn on the way to a 2-under 70.

Canada's Adam Hadwin is at 2-under after shooting a 2-over 74.

Masters champion Sergio Garcia returned a tidy one-under 71 to leave the Spaniard four back and in contention for a second straight major.

Day takes struggles in stride

Eight of the top 12 in the world will not be around for the weekend at this most unusual U.S. Open, where the top 60 and ties advanced to the final two rounds. The cut was at 1-over 145, tying a U.S. Open record set in 1990 at Medinah.

Joining the top trio were British Open champion Henrik Stenson (No. 6), Alex Noren (No. 8), Jon Rahm (No. 10), Justin Rose (No. 11) and Adam Scott (No. 12).

Johnson also missed the cut at the Memorial, so this was the first time since 2013 (Pebble Beach, Riviera) that he has missed the cut in consecutive events.

Day at least managed to find one positive spin.

"Guess what?" he said to his 4-year-old son. "We get to go home today because Daddy played poorly."

That's something Day, the No. 3 player in the world, rarely says at a major.

Day shot a 75 for a two-day total of 10-over 154, ending at 17 the longest active streak of making the cut in the majors. The last time Day missed a cut in a major was the 2012 PGA Championship, just a month after his son was born.

He never would have guessed it.

"I felt the most calm I have in a major in a long time this week," said Day, who arrived last Friday. "And just unfortunately, this didn't pan out."

Deja vu for McIlroy

It didn't for McIlroy, either.

McIlroy, the No. 2 player in the world, also arrived last Friday having missed the last month to rest a nagging rib injury. He loved Erin Hills, a course with wide fairways between the knee-high fescue that he figured would allow him to attack. If only he had hit the fairways.

McIlroy was never in the short grass from the 11th hole to the end on Thursday when he opened with a career-worst 78, and he didn't do nearly enough in the second round until it was far too late. And even that was frustrating.

Sure, he birdied four of his last six holes to salvage a 71 and finish at 5-over 149. But he missed a pair of 10-foot birdie chances in that stretch, and one of the birdies he made was a two-putt from 20 feet on the par-5 seventh.

"Show up for the last six holes, anyway," McIlroy said.

It was the second straight year McIlroy missed the cut at the U.S. Open.

McIlroy dismissed the notion of being rusty before the tournament, but conceded on his way out of Wisconsin that he hasn't played nearly enough. He missed nearly two months at the start of the year when he was diagnosed with a slight rib fracture, and then the latest break after The Players Championship.

The U.S. Open was only his sixth start this year.

"I think at the end of the day, it's competitive rounds and get the card in my hand," McIlroy said. "And I've been very light on competitive rounds this year, and it's just a matter of getting into a good round of golf now."

Day thought his game was perfectly suited for Erin Hills. He is long and straight off the tee and an excellent chipper from closely mown areas around the green. But he wasn't doing much of anything right, especially off the tee.

"The biggest thing about this course is that the fairways are massive," Day said. "But when you're visually looking down the fairway, I think when you're trying to aim at a target at a normal golf course, with normal width fairways, there's some pressure into hitting the fairway because it is a lot narrower than we have out here. And I think with everything so large, your target is larger and your misses get even more extreme.

"Being out of position off the tee does not help," he said. "The execution was not there."

As for Johnson? His second son was born Monday and Johnson was headed to California to spend time with his family, change some diapers and presumably work on his putting. He won't play again until the British Open. Unlikely as it seems, that was the last major he played on the weekend.