PGA Championship: 15 big names who missed the cut

The cut line has fallen at the 2025 PGA Championship and some huge names are heading home early.

Many predicted the high-profile, big hitters would take advantage of a wet Quail Hollow this week, but the early stages have proved quite the opposite.

Instead, the PGA Tour venue has been a happy hunting ground for a plethora of lower ranked players, none more so than 36-hole leader Jhonattan Vegas.

The Venezualen leads the top 70 and ties who made it to the weekend on eight-under-par, despite carding a double-bogey sixth on the 18th hole.

Here are some of the big names who missed the cut at the PGA Championship…

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Shane Lowry +2

An agonising finish to the PGA Championship for Lowry, who hovered over the cut line throughout his second round. The Irishman’s 71 on Friday was a decent effort but certainly didn’t have him worrying any of the leading pack. A first missed cut at this tournament 2016.

Jordan Spieth +2

We won’t be seeing a second man joining the immortal career grand slam club in the space of two months. In truth, it was never likely to happen at Quail Hollow for Spieth, who never contested in this tournament even in the peak of his powers. Still, a MC by one shot is always a pretty brutal blow.

Ludvig Aberg +3

Not a result many saw coming ahead of this week. If the 2025 PGA Championship was going to be won by a first-time major winner, Aberg was the most likely candidate. But a four-over 75 was uncharacteristic, albeit marked a third missed cut in just six major appearances.

Hideki Matsuyama +3

The Japanese ace started his week in the rain, sinking putts as Quail Hollow was submerged in water. Rounds of 72 and 73 later and Matsuyama was smashing balls on the range, Bryson DeChambeau style. In the end, his streak of 19 consecutive made cuts in major championships is over.

Justin Thomas +3

So heavily fancied this week after breaking his duck at the RBC Heritage, Thomas was another big name to disappoint. He battled back well from a four-over front 9 on Thursday to briefly reach +1, but failed to make a move on Friday and will be heading home early.

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Patrick Reed +4

The LIV Golf man was well fancied to back up his third place finish at The Masters, as well as two top ten efforts in his last three regular season starts. But Reed faltered on Friday and exited at the halfway stage of this championship for the first time since 2019.

Rickie Fowler +4

Double bogey on 16, bogey on 17. And just like that, Fowler’s already slim PGA Championship hopes bit the dust. The former world No.4 missed the first major of the year and he won’t play on the weekend of the second.

Patrick Cantlay +5

The wait for a maiden major championship title goes on. Cantlay, the world No.14, had made the cut in his last 11 major starts, but never really looked like securing a weekend ticket at Quail Hollow.

Jason Day +6

The 2015 PGA Champion rallied and looked like he was making the cut on Friday after an opening round of 74. At least until he reached the par-4 12th. The Aussie proceeded to make three bogeys and one double to miss the cut by four in North Carolina. We won’t get to see what Malbon had planned over the weekend.

Cam Smith +7

A third consecutive missed cut in major championships for the Aussie which, at points in the last few years, would seem hard to fathom. After playing his last eight holes on Thursday in six-over-par, Smith’s race was run.

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Phil Mickelson +8

Another off to a disastrous start on Thursday was Phil Mickelson, the 2005 and 2021 PGA Champion. The 54-year-old spent plenty of time on the range ahead of day two but was unable to turn things around and, ultimately, beat only a handful of players home. His attempt to get off the beach on the 12th was… bizarre.

Justin Rose +9

He would have been one of the most popular winners this week after his Masters heroics, but Rose couldn’t keep his strong run in the majors running at Quail Hollow. He pulled out of last week’s Truist Championship with illness and never got going here.

Brooks Koepka +10

For a man so adamant that he only cares about the majors, what a chastening start to 2025 this has been for the three-time winner of the Wanamaker trophy. You’d have got good odds on back-to-back MCs in the big ones and after flattering to deceive last year, Koepka will head to Oakmont  for the US Open facing serious questions about all aspects of his faltering game.

Russell Henley +10

It was only two months ago that Henley won at Bay Hill, the biggest success of his career, firing him to a career high world ranking of seventh. Since then, the American has missed the cut at The Masters and now missed the cut at the PGA Championship, and in emphatic fashion, too.

Dustin Johnson +12

Johnson’s decline is so stark that he was battling the 20 club pros who qualify for this tournament to avoid the ignominy of finishing dead last. 78-76 marked another pitiful major showing for this waning former US Open and Masters champion.

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.