They entered Carnoustie as the two top-ranked players in the world, but No. 1 Dustin Johnson and No. 2 Justin Thomas will be heading home after just 36 holes across the pond, as both American stars missed the cut at the 147th Open Championship.
The 33-year old Johnson dropped three shots over his final two holes on Friday to sign for a disappointing 72 and a two-round score of 6-over par. The South Carolinian played Carnoustie’s famous 18th hole to 5-over par (triple-double), while playing the first 17 holes (twice) to just 1-over par.
Starting with the third round of the U.S. Open, Johnson has played to 13-over par in his last four rounds: 77-70-76-72.
Expanding on that, in his last 12 rounds at the Open Championship, DJ has carded just two sub-70 rounds.
DJ’S BRITISH OPEN BLUES
Despite being ranked in the world top 3 entering each of his last four Open Championships – including a No. 1 ranking in his two most recent starts, DJ has uncharacteristically struggled. He has produced one top 10 – a T9 where he finished 18 shots back of champion Henrik Stenson – to go along with a T49, T54, and now a missed-cut.
YEAR-FINISH-(SCORES)-World Rank
2015: T49 (65-69-75-75) No. 3
2016: T9 (71-69-72-70) No. 2
2017: T54 (71-72-64-77) No. 1
2018: MC (77-72) No. 1
JUSTIN THOMAS MISSES ANOTHER CUT AT THE OPEN
Thomas, meanwhile, went from a shot off the lead through 11 holes on Thursday, and T8 after 18 holes, to a missed cut less than 24 hours later.
After a birdie on the par-4 11th on Thursday, Thomas was one from the lead and the hot name atop the leaderboard. The world No. 2 was 4-under par and seemed to have his putter dialed in. But then he made bogey on No. 12, and added a second on the par-3 16th to finish 2-under.
Still, the 25-year old Kentucky native entered the day in the top 10, just three off the lead of Kevin Kisner.
But Thomas flamed out early and often on Friday morning, specifically through hole Nos. 4-8, where he mixed a birdie with a bogey and three-straight double bogeys to turn in 6-over 42. He gained a couple back on Nos. 13 and 14, but then lost both on 16 and 17. A birdie attempt on the 18th lipped out, and just like that, Thomas was toast.
The missed-cut was his second-consecutive at the Open Championship.
