Fallen Australian golf star Geoff Ogilvy will miss the Masters for the first time in eight years after failing to make the cut at the Houston Open PGA event.
A shocking second-round seven-over-par 79 left the 2006 US Open champion a distant 18 shots behind American halfway leader Steve Wheatcroft.
Wheatcroft carded his second successive 67 to be 10-under for the tournament, one head of countrymen Jason Kokrak (69) and D.A. Points (71).
Ogilvy has contested the past seven Masters, never missing a cut and finishing tied fourth two years ago, but Australia’s only major champion of the past 18 years won’t be at Augusta next month after dropping out of the world’s top 50.
Ogilvy was one of eight Australians including John Senden and Greg Chalmers – whose Masters hopes are also now dashed – to miss the halfway cut in Houston.
Matt Jones is the best-placed Australian at three-under, seven adrift of Wheatcroft, after signing off for a 73 on Friday.
Rory McIlroy didn’t improve his chances of regaining the world No.1 ranking, but he held up under pressure to guarantee himself two more rounds at the $US6.2 million ($A5.96 million) tournament.
Although he was well down the leaderboard, McIlroy was squarely in the spotlight.
His two-under 70 included three birdies and a bogey and left him on one-under 143 for the tournament, making the cut with no room to spare.
“No one likes missing cuts,” McIlroy said after his morning round, when he still thought Houston would mark his last start before the Masters.
Later in the day, the PGA Tour said McIlroy had committed to play next week’s Texas Open in San Antonio, giving him one more tune-up for the year’s first major.
Through Friday he had played just 10 competitive rounds in 2013 and seen Tiger Woods supplant him atop the world rankings.
McIlroy, whose opening 73 on Thursday put him in danger of an early exit, teed off on 10 and picked up back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th.
After a bogey at the second, he got up-and-down for a birdie on the par-five eighth.
He two-putted from 40 feet for par on his finishing hole, the 236-yard ninth.
McIlroy has struggled in the early going this year as he adjusts to new clubs.
Although a victory in this tournament would see him regain the top ranking from Woods, he came in saying he was more focused on getting his game in shape for Augusta National.
