UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- A few of the best-known professional golfers in the world, including three-time U.S. Open champion Tiger Woods, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and defending U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer, failed to make the cut Friday in the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.
Others players who didn't make the cut included Rickie Fowler, 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and six-time PGA Tour winner Hunter Mahan.
However, a bogey by amateur Nick Hardy, playing in the final threesome of the second round Friday, let in 15 golfers at 5 over who would have missed the cut if Hardy had made par. Among the golfers who got in at 5 over were Sergio Garcia, Jimmy Walker, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Camilo Villegas, Angel Cabrera and Webb Simpson.
Local favorite Ryan Moore, who grew up in nearby Puyallup, Washington, and has four PGA Tour victories, also missed the cut, shooting 9 over.
Phil Mickelson, still hoping to win the event for the first time, shot 74 on Friday but finished at 3 over for 36 holes to stay inside the cut line.
Woods finished the event at 16 over, shooting 80 on Thursday and 76 on Friday.
"On a golf course like this, you get exposed," Woods said. "You have to be precise and dialed in. Obviously, I didn't have that."
Some of the players have complained about the condition of the greens at Chambers Bay, feeling they are too bumpy, too brown and have too much undulation.
Garcia missed a three-putt on the 18th hole Friday that caused him to fall below the cut line until Hardy's late bogey. He had tweeted after Thursday's round:
I think a championship of the caliber of @usopengolf deserves better quality green surfaces that we have this week but maybe I'm wrong!
— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) June 18, 2015Mike Davis, the executive director of the USGA, is the man who makes the final decision on where the pins are placed each day and how much water is used on the greens each evening. Davis defended the greens Friday and explained how the USGA looked at some of the players' complaints.
"Listen, we all like smooth greens, no doubt about it," Davis said Friday on the Fox Sports 1 telecast. "But some of it is aesthetics. Your eyes tell you, '(Geez), the colorations. It can't be smooth.' But it wouldn't be a U.S. Open without some complaints here and there."
Davis also said the USGA is happy with the results of the first two rounds at the links-style golf course, a first for a U.S. Open.
"Good shots are being rewarded," Davis said. "Listen, this is a different type of test, but this is still a U.S. Open, and it's about being able to handle your nerves at a major."
On Friday, Chambers Bay played at 7,695 yards, the longest course in the history of any of the four major championships.