Valero Texas Open: Rickie Fowler, Max Homa miss the cut

SAN ANTONIO – Everything is bigger in Texas, including how Matt McCarty made the cut on Friday at the Valero Texas Open.

McCarty was even par with one hole to go at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course but he ripped two beauties at the par-5 18^th hole and converted the 5-foot eagle putt to shoot 68 and make the cut on the number at 2-under 142. That’s called getting it done.

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Mark Hubbard flirted with going from first-round leader to having the weekend off. After a 65 on Thursday, he toured his front nine in 1-under 35 and was in the top 5 in the tournament. But the back nine got ugly as he came home in 42 and needed a par at the last to make the cut on the number.

Golf is fickle. Let’s take a look at some of the notables who were sent packing. The cut will be official on Saturday (it will be 2 under) because the second round didn’t finish. Luke Clanton is the lone golfer in the field who didn’t finish. He’s at 2 under on his final hole. He needs to par to play the weekend.

Russell Henley

On paper, Henley should’ve been set up for a great week. The stats indicate he did a lot of things right – eighth in proximity, T-16 in driving accuracy. 21^st in SG: Around the Green. So what went wrong? A cold putter Thursday and too many missed greens. He holed an 81-foot bunker shot at the fourth for birdie to jump to 2 under but he took three putts from 44 feet at No. 8 to fall on the wrong side of the cutline. Henley shot 72-71 and can hit the road for Augusta early.

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Tom Hoge

Hoge has missed four of his last five cuts and finished T-71 in the one tournament during the stretch that he played all four rounds. He bogeyed the last to come up one shot short. Frustration has to be mounting. Hoge also changed caddies recently and had Geno Bonnalie on the bag.

Sepp Straka

Straka missed just his second cut of the season in seven starts. Two bad holes – one in each round cost him. He made a triple at No. 4 on Thursday and a double on No. 8 on Friday and shot a pair of even-par 72s. He ranked 122^nd in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and hit just 11 of 28 fairways.

Tom Kim

Kim missed his first cut of the season after making the weekend at his first eight starts of the season. He was 2 under through 11 holes of the first round but shot 74 to dig himself as hole. He battled back with an eagle and three birdies on his first nine Friday but two bogeys coming home left him with a 70. Not good enough.

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Rickie Fowler

No Masters this year for Fowler. He bogeyed three of his first six holes on Thursday before rallying to shoot 70. But he never got untracked on Friday. He started bogey-double-bogey on Friday. He was hovering around the cutline through 10 holes but bogeyed Nos. 11 and 15 and the birdies dried out. He hit just five fairways on Friday and shot 75.

Max Homa

A promising start with a 3-under Thursday came crashing down with a rocky start on Friday. Homa bogeyed his first three holes straight out of the gate. Bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13 sent him into the black. His approach game was lacking on Friday, hitting just seven greens in regulation in the second round.

Jimmy Walker

Everyone’s favorite local boy and the 2015 champ was making his 20^th career appearance at the Texas Open. But he missed the cut for third straight year and fourth time in his last five outings. He started well enough with 69 but stumbled to 77 on Friday. He ranked last in SG: Putting on Friday and was just 4 of 10 in scrambling.

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Johnny Keefer

The San Antonio resident will still get to sleep in his own bed this weekend; he just won’t have a tee time. Those millions of rounds at TPC San Antonio likely will come in handy some day at the Texas Open but it won’t be this year. He shot 76-71.

Keefer was dead last in Strokes Gained: Putting on Thursday and was just 5 of 12 in scrambling for the week.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Valero Texas Open: Who made and missed the cut