British Open 2024: Justin Thomas went from the top of the leaderboard to outside the cut line in just 9 holes

A little over 24 hours after he opened with a three-under 68 that had him in the solo lead for much of Thursday’s first round, Justin Thomas is now in danger of missing the cut in the 152nd British Open at Royal Troon.

That’s right, it’s an utter carnage-fest on Friday at the Open, where the wind is howling for the afternoon wave that can now officially claim it was on the wrong end of “the draw” when they look back on this championship. Thomas likely didn’t have that excuse in mind after gutting it out on Thursday morning, but he’s welcome to use it following his catastrophic front nine on Friday.

Thomas opened with a comfy par but then proceeded to go bogey-bogey-bogey-double bogey-bogey on the next five holes, which are supposed to be the most gettable holes on the golf course. Naturally, he settled in at the beginning of the hardest stretch on the famous links, making par at the seventh and another par at the postage stamp par-3 eighth. 

What came next could prove unsalvageable, though. A triple-bogey seven at the par-4 ninth, where Thomas’ drive found a bush. He attempted to hit it out and it went one yard and he then took a penalty, hit his fourth way left of the fairway into the native area, and proceeded to make a mess from there. His front-45 45 saw him drop from three under at the start of the day to six over, which put him in danger of making the weekend as the projected cut line is currently at five over. 

The good news is, with the way it’s gusting at Royal Troon this afternoon, that cut line could very well get to six over. The better news? Thomas made a huge bounce-back birdie at the 10th and then parred the difficult par-4 11th, which has him back at five over. 

Thomas is hardly the only elite player struggling on Friday, too. Last year’s U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark shot 80 in his second round and sits in 151st. Robert MacIntyre, fresh off his Scottish Open win, began his day 7-5-5-8 to fall to nine over. Rory McIlroy has fallen back to eight over and is now making a mess of the par-5 fourth, while Adam Scott, who shot one under on Day 1, is seven over through 12. Madness, folks.