Scheffler's misses his first cut since 2022
Early Scottish exit will allow him extra Open prep; Korda misses cut in LPGA major
Scottie Scheffler missed his first cut in 1,428 days since 2022 (Ross Parker/SNS Group via Getty Images)
NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — Scottie Scheffler has never been to Royal Birkdale, the site of next week’s Open Championship. He’ll get an earlier look than expected.
Scheffler, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, was on his way to a missed cut at the Genesis Scottish Open on Friday afternoon following a 2-over-par 72 at the Renaissance Club that left him outside of the top 65 and ties that advance to the final two rounds.
That followed a first-round 68 and put Scheffler at even-par 140.
“A little different than I was planning,” Scheffler said after his first missed weekend in 1,428 days. “Figure out how I get down to Birkdale and go from there.”
Also in today’s DD …
Nelly Korda’s LPGA HOF bid falls short with missed cut at Evian
This is rare territory for Scheffler, the four-time major champion who will be the defending champion at the Open next week, some 280 miles south in England.
Scheffler had the longest streak of consecutive made cuts on the PGA Tour at 78, having last missed at the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship, which was then a full-field playoff event that now does not have a 36-hole cut. The last time he finished outside of the top 25 was at the 2024 BMW Championship, where he tied for 33rd.
Earlier this year, Xander Schauffele’s tour-leading cut streak ended at 72 when he missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open. Scheffler surpassed him, getting just past halfway to the record of 142 that Tiger Woods set from 1998 to 2005.
Woods, Byron Nelson (113) and Jack Nicklaus (105) are the only players to reach at least 100 consecutive made cuts. Hale Irwin’s best streak was 86 made cuts, leaving Scheffler’s 78 at fifth on the all-time list.
“I didn’t really feel like I played that bad,” said Scheffler, who has 20 PGA Tour victories. “This golf course can be just tough at times. You know, there’s some humps and mounds out there, and yeah, I’m trying to think, just because it’s like — didn’t really feel like I played that bad.
“I felt like I needed at least a birdie coming in on my last few holes. I felt like the cut was going to be 2- or 3-under. Trying to think. I know I had to make the putt on 8 and I had to make birdie, I felt on 9. Just hit a good iron shot just a little short.”
Scheffler made four bogeys and just two birdies on Friday. Playing the back nine first, he got off to a slow start and was trying to catch up the entire way.
A birdie at his final hole, the ninth, at least would have made it interesting as he’d have finished at 2-under par and on the number before the afternoon wave finished. But the bogey dropping him back to even par all but sealed his fate dropping him outside of the top 80.
During his cut streak, Scheffler actually played in 25 events that did not have a 36-hole cut but for which he was credited. (Woods played in 31 such events among his 142 in a row.) He’s only missed three cuts since first ascending to world No. 1 ahead of winning the 2022 Masters, all three in 2022 at the PGA Championship, Scottish Open and FedEx St. Jude.
“It’s a a little different now with some of the signature events not having cuts,” Scheffler said. “But you know, this is — I don’t think I finished outside of the top 20 or something like that many times this year.
“I’m definitely proud of the consistency, and wish I had a couple days over the weekend to make up some ground. But overall, get down to Birkdale a little earlier than expected and get used to a new course.”
Scheffler has only one victory this year, at his season-opening event in January at the American Express Championship. Compared to previous seasons, it appears he’s having an off year, but he also have seven top-four finishes, a runner-up at the Masters and the Travelers, and just two previous finishes outside of the top 20.
And he ranks first on the PGA Tour in strokes gained total and strokes gained tee to green; third in strokes gained off the tree; eighth in strokes gained approach to the green; fifth in strokes gained around the greens and 12th in strokes gained putting.
At the Scottish Open, he was well below his usual standards, including 57th off the tee, 127th in approach and 75th in putting.
Scheffler was coming off a tie for fourth at the U.S. Open and a playoff loss to Viktor Hovland at the Travelers Championship. Last year, he tied for eighth at the Scottish Open before winning the Open at Royal Portrush the next week.
“I think I’ve been really close to winning some tournaments, and that can be frustrating,” Scheffler said Wednesday. “But at the same time, I’ve had some good results, and a fourth and a second are not bad results by any means.
“Margins in golf are really small, and just keep trying to do my best. I feel like no matter how the season goes, there’s always shots I wish I could have back. There’s always tournaments I feel like I should have won and I didn’t. That’s just part of the game. You’ve got to ride with it, kind of the highs and lows. And like I said last year at The Open: It’s not a satisfying venture playing professional golf, so try to take the good with the bad.”
Nelly Korda missed the cut for the first time in 2026 at the Evian (Philippe Millereau/KMSP)
Korda’s shot at history will have to wait
Scottie Scheffler wasn’t the only world No. 1 to miss the weekend in Europe. Across the English Channel in France, women’s No. 1 Nelly Korda struggled at the Amundi Evian Championship and missed the cut after rounds of 74-69 at Evian Resort in the LPGA’s fourth major of the season.
An Evian victory for Korda would have put her into the LPGA Hall of Fame and gotten her one step closer to the career Grand Slam. The LPGA counts five events as majors, and Korda still hasn’t won the Evian (her best finish is T8 in 2022) or the Women’s British Open (runner-up in 2024).
Korda declined to comment after her first-round 73 put her in a deep hole. A bogey on the 17th hole Friday derailed her comeback effort to extend her two-year streak of made cuts. Needing a birdie on the par-5 18th — the easiest hole at Evian Resort — to guarantee a spot on the weekend, she left her 15-foot birdie putt inches short. Her 2-under 69 to finish at 1 over left her one short of the even-par total she needed.
In nine previous starts this season, Korda had not finished worse than tied eighth twice. She compiled four wins including major victories at the Chevron Championship and U.S. Women’s Open along with three runner-ups already this year.
Her last missed cut was in the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship — a season in which she won seven times.
Korda will play in next week’s ISPS Handa Scottish Open at Dundonald Links and then the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, the LPGA’s fifth and final major of the season.
England’s Lottie Woad leads the Amundi Evian Championship at 11-under par after rounds of 67-64.