AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tony Finau fell down the leaderboard and Mike Weir is likely to fall out of the tournament after disappointing rounds for the two Utahns on a rainy Friday at the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
Finau, a Salt Lake City native who makes his home in Arizona, had a roller coaster round highlighted by an eagle and three birdies, but also included as many bogeys as pars with seven of each. He started the day just four off the lead, but a 2-over 74 left him at 1-under-par 143, in a tie for 29th place, 11 strokes behind leader Brooks Koepka.
Weir, the 2003 Masters champion who has lived in Utah for more than 25 years after playing collegiate golf at BYU, was hoping to make the cut for just the third time since 2010 and was in good shape after an opening-round 72. However, he got off to a rocky start with four bogeys on the front nine Friday and couldn’t make enough birdies coming home on the back.
When play was suspended for the second time Friday afternoon, Weir stood at 148, two shots above the projected cut line of 146 with 39 golfers still out on the course. Weir is in a tie for 56th place and only the low 50 and ties make the cut.
Weir had identical scores to 2019 when he missed the cut by one shot. In each of the last two years, the cut came at 148, which would have been good enough for Weir this year. Others unlikely to make the cut are four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and former U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, while Tiger Woods is right on the cutline at 2-over with seven holes to play Saturday morning.
After making a birdie at the second hole, Finau ran into a buzzsaw, making bogeys at four consecutive holes to fall back to even for the tournament. He missed the green on holes 3, 4 and 5 and three-putted the sixth. Then he couldn’t pick up a shot at the par-5 eighth before making birdie at the downhill par-4 10th, hitting his approach to within 5 feet.
He found trouble off the tee at 11 and had to chip down short of the green and made bogey. He missed a 15-foot birdie at No. 12, but sank a similar-length putt at the par-5 13th to earn a piece of crystal (given for any eagle in the tournament).
From 50 feet at No. 14, Finau took three putts to get in and bogeyed, but at 15 he sank an 8-foot putt for birdie that hung on the lip for a couple of seconds before falling.
Just after Finau walked off the 17th green, the horn blew, halting play for the first time. The delay lasted less than a half-hour and when he returned, Finau hit his drive to the right behind some trees and wasn’t able to hit the green in two. He ended up with a bogey and a round of 74
Weir was playing in the group right behind Finau and played with a “marker” named Michael McDermott. He played because Weir’s original playing partner, Kevin Na, withdrew midway though Thursday’s opening round. McDermott is an Augusta National member, who is a former Philadelphia Amateur champion. Weir was in the middle of No. 17 when play was suspended and needed birdies on the final two holes, but ended up making pars.
Soon after Finau and Weir finished, the tournament was suspended for the second time, this time for the day. While Finau will be playing his third round, teeing off sometime around midday Saturday, Weir will need some players just ahead of him to play poorly in order to make the cut.
The temperature was in the mid-80s before the weather front came through and by 5:30 p.m. EDT, it had dropped to the mid-50s. The forecast calls for rain all day Saturday and cool temperatures.
