Who made the cut at the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open?
After two rounds of the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open, Cameron Tringale leads the pack with a 3-shot lead over his nearest followers. Although he was two over par on Friday, his 9-under first round gave him enough cushion to maintain his lead into the weekend.
The 2022 Genesis Scottish Open has a field with 14 of the top 15 players in the world, unfortunately many of the world’s best golfers won’t be around on the weekend.
Early exit for big names
Tringale will not have to worry about some of the big names who competed the first two days because the tough conditions at The Renaissance Club sent them packing earlier than expected. World no.1 Scottie Scheffler will be able to recover earlier than expected to be in condition to take on St. Andrews next week. The Masters champion shot a five-over-par total, which wasn’t enough to make the +3 cutline.
He’ll be in good company as he and some other top golfers get an early look at the British Open venue. Billy Horschel, Will Zalatoris and Colin Morikawa, last year’s British Open winner, also shot five-over-par on Thursday and Friday. Two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas was +7 on Friday after shooting +3 on Thursday.
Top of the leaderboard
Tringale acknowledged the wind made conditions tough and hitting fairways and greens was not easy. “It’s so tough to judge how much the wind is going to hurt, and then you get a putt that’s where the wind is going sideways. It might be a ball, two, a cup, even as close as 7, 8 feet. It’s really tricky,” he said.
Xander Schauffele shot the best round of the day with a five-under 65. He’s currently three shots behind Tringale and is playing with confidence after his recent win at the Travelers Championship.
The 2022 U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick is also three behind Tringale going into the weekend. The Englishman had to deal with high winds and overall tough conditions to go four under par on Friday. “I feel like the wind sort of got calm as we started this morning. I think it’s safe to say we got the worst half of the draw,” he said.
Other names at the top
Fitzpatrick’s fellow countryman Jordan Smith is also three under for the tournament and had the shot of the day at the par-3 17th hole with a hole-in-one. The ace was rewarded with two cars from the tournament sponsor Genesis. An electric GV70 luxury midsize SUV for Smith and a GV60 electric crossover for his caddie Sam Matton.
Rickie Fowler finds himself back at the top of a leaderboard at -2, just four strokes behind the leader. Fowler, currently no. 150 on the Official World Golf Ranking has put himself into contention with two under par rounds.
Another group of big names are still within striking distance at even par for the tournament. Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose will continue battling the conditions during the weekend as they try to fight their way up the leaderboard.
The anecdote on Friday was Max Homa’s 36 holes. Despite grinding at the Renaissance Club on Thursday and Friday with back-to-back 71s, Homa still found time on Saturday to play another 18 holes at the West Links on Friday evening. When in Rome…