Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut at Shinnecock Hills by one shot on Friday, and the numbers were cruel. A five-over 75 in the second round left him outside the U.S. Open weekend after an opening 70 had put him in position to stay around.
The missed cut matters now because the field was trimmed at four over or better, and DeChambeau was not the only name gone before the weekend. Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler also failed to advance, part of a cut that knocked out 11 players and turned Shinnecock Hills into a heavy eliminator before Saturday’s play even began.
For DeChambeau, the collapse came in a pair of putts that changed everything. He three-putted from 31 feet for double bogey on the par-4 3rd, then three-putted again from 17 feet to double the 4th. Those swings erased the kind of start that had kept him alive after round one, and they arrived after he had said before the tournament that he did not feel pressure to make the cut.
That is the friction in his week. DeChambeau said he was playing great, that his swing felt close to some of his best golf ever, and that the work he was putting into it on LIV had him in a really solid place. He even shrugged off the idea that a missed cut was looming. Then he backed it up with a score that left him short, extending a rough run in the majors instead of ending it.
He has now missed the cut in all three majors this season, and four of his last five major starts have ended before the weekend. He missed the cut at Oakmont, later posted a T10 at Royal Portrush, triple-bogeyed the 18th on Friday at the Masters, and did not get a weekend chance at the PGA Championship at Aronimink. He has also now missed the weekend in back-to-back U.S. Opens since his win at Pinehurst No. 2, which only sharpens the weight of this latest exit.
The same pattern showed up around him. Rahm opened with a bogey-free 68, then missed six putts inside 10 feet in the second round before a double bogey at the par-5 16th left him out after a 78. Fowler opened with a 71 and left Long Island early after failing to keep pace on Friday afternoon. A few players still had to finish their second round on Saturday morning, but the cut will not move. For DeChambeau, the result was simple: he survived the first day, then lost the tournament in two holes.
What comes next is another major without him on the weekend, and that is becoming the story. The search around the US Open 2026 cut line now leads back to whether DeChambeau can turn the promise he keeps describing into four rounds when the pressure is highest, because at Shinnecock Hills he was close enough to believe it and still far enough away to be done by Friday.
