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American Express: Many Big Names Fail to Make Weekend

By Tim Letcher

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 21: Brooks Koepka reacts to his shot from the 18th tee during the first round of The American Express tournament on the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West on January 21, 2021 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 21: Brooks Koepka reacts to his shot from the 18th tee during the first round of The American Express tournament on the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West on January 21, 2021 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Most of the world’s best players did not play in this week’s America Express. And the big names who did show up in California didn’t fare very well at all.

Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and others elected to play in the European Tour’s event in Abu Dhabi. Others, like Dustin Johnson, simply elected to take the week off.

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That still left some big names in the field. But here’s a list of some of those big names who have not fared very well this week.

Phil Mickelson – Lefty continues to prove that he should spend more time on the PGA Tour Champions. He opened with a 74 this week, and followed that with a 72. That was not nearly enough to get it done this week.

Patrick Reed – The former Masters champion had a good day on Thursday, shooting a 68. However, he was unable to follow that up on Friday, as he posted a 75. That left him at 1-under par and outside the cut line.

Brooks Koepka – The mystery surrounding Koepka continued this week. After claiming to be totally healthy, the four-time major winner promptly shot 72-71 to miss the cut by three shots. We still don’t know what to expect from Koepka on any given week.

Kevin Na – For a player who looked so good last week, Na looked the opposite this week. His 75 on Thursday took him out of the mix to make the cut. Even a 69 on Friday could not save him and allow him to play the weekend.

Scottie Scheffler – Last year’s PGA Tour Rookie of the Year was also among those to not make the cut this week. He shot 70-71 and will be home for the weekend.

Bill Haas – He had his struggles last week and, while this week was not as bad, Haas still didn’t play well. The former FedEx Cup champion shot 70-71 to miss the cut by a shot.

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Granted, some of the big names did make the cut. Tony Finau is 10-under par, Francesco Molinari is 9-under and Paul Casey is 7-under. Matthew Wolff came back with a 67 on Friday and is now 5-under, while Rickie Fowler is also 5-under after a 66 on Friday. Patrick Cantlay and Zach Johnson made the cut on the number at 4-under par.

But the majority of the big names in this week’s event will spend the weekend somewhere else.

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