British Open projected cut: John Daly, Jason Day in danger of going home early

The conditions have toughened at The Open, which should bump the cut line as Friday progresses at Royal Troon. The current projected cut line is even-par, with Phil Mickelson setting the pace way out ahead at 11-under. The Open’s cut rule takes the top 70 and ties, which is slightly more inclusive than the U.S. Open’s top 60 and ties provision. The R&A also dropped the “10-shot rule” back in 1996. The Masters is the only major that still uses that rule when making its cut.

We have our first rain of the championship at Troon, and it’s coming down hard, but that’s just a nuisance for most of the best players in the world. The wind, when it really starts blowing as it is wont to do on the Scottish links, is what sends the scores rocketing upward. The rain is supposed to end for the late wave of tee times, but the wind is supposed to kick up the most it has these first two days.

A golf tournament is always made more interesting by the presence of John Daly, and it’s still remarkable to see him tee it up every year at The Open. Then you remember, wait, he actually won this thing? And at the home of golf, St. Andrews, no less. So, he holds an exemption every year until he turns 60 years old.

Daly made it to the weekend last year at St. Andrews, but that was just because of the endless wind delays there -- he still missed the cut. Long John is headed home at the 36-hole mark this year, coming in on Friday with a 39 on the back nine and a 76 for the round. He’s 9-over par for the championship. We don’t expect Daly to make the cut these days, but it would still be nice if he blessed us with a couple more days of golf at one of the game’s biggest events.

The more unexpected name on the wrong side of the cut line is Jason Day, who is 2-over after a disappointing opening round of 73. Day was the co-favorite with Dustin Johnson at the top of the week, but he squandered perfect scoring conditions on Thursday morning. The good news for Day is that he still has a full 18 holes ahead of him, but he will now need to get in the red in what could be the toughest winds of the week late Friday afternoon.

Even-par would be a pretty low cut line, but if the wind does start whipping as expected, that may go up a stroke or two. Here’s your current leaderboard and projected cut at about the midpoint of the second round: