Who made the cut at the 2023 Travelers Championship? What big names won’t be playing this weekend?

As you take a look at the leaderboard ahead of Round 3 of the 2023 Travelers Championship, we can forgive you if you find yourself scratching your head. With Denny McCarthy sitting atop it and deservedly so, one has to wonder if the American is about to get his first big win

2023 Travelers Championship: Denny McCarthy is turning heads

This year’s Travelers Championship has seen a fan favorite put in an impressive performance so far. Indeed, Denny McCarthy now shares the lead in a field that was laden with household names but it’s now clear that meant nothing to him. Looking for his first win, the 30-year-old followed up what was almost 59 on Thursday with a 5-under 65 on Friday to end at 15 under at the halfway mark of this week’s proceedings. McCarthy currently sits in the No. 1 spot alongside his compatriot, Keegan Bradley.

Truth be told, it’s been something to watch McCarthy’s gradual climb on the PGA Tour, however, he’s definitely shown a growth spurt in 2023 having significantly improved on his ball striking. Indeed, McCarthy has for quite some time been considered the best putter on tour, but his distance game has often been the weak link in his chain of skills. Assuming he can continue in this vein, this could well be the start of something for the New England native. With that said, there are a slew of stars who are still within touching distance. Rory McIlroy (20-1), Scottie Scheffler (22-1), Adam Scott (25-1), Xander Schauffele (25-1), Viktor Hovland (28-1), and Patrick Cantlay (35-1) are all still close enough that they can easily place pressure on the pair of Americans who share the lead.

It’s not about who made the cut, it’s about who didn’t

For the majority of the day’s play, the cutline was all over the play. By late afternoon, however, it was more or less 4 under. With that, a surprising amount of big names - four of the world’s top 20 - dropped below the line and were given their marching orders. For example, 2023 Masters winner and world No. 2 Jon Rahm missed his first cut in 36 attempts - he did withdraw from this year’s Player’s Championship. Indeed, the Spaniard last missed a cut at the 2021 Fortinet Championship. There was also Tommy Fleetwood who has been playing some sensational golf already but will now be saying goodbye to Connecticut. Max Homa will be ruing the fact that he missed the weekend’s play by a single stroke, and so too will Collin Morikawa who did the exact same thing.