U.S. Open cut line: Rory McIlroy, Jason Day likely heading home early from Erin Hills

We’ve still got about eight hours left in the second round, but the U.S. Open projected cut line does not look like it will be kind to some of the biggest names in the game.

The cut at the U.S. Open is not the most generous of the majors, chopping the field at the top 60 and ties at the midpoint. Sometimes that can yield a big number if there’s a logjam of ties on a course that can create backups because of the usual challenging setup. As of early Friday afternoon, the cut is projected at 1-over at Erin Hills.

That number may go up to 2 or 3-over if the winds come up in the afternoon and start blowing scores higher for the second half of the field. But from what we’ve seen on Friday morning, there should not be too much movement. The fescue has wreaked havoc on players finding the thick stuff, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to avoid and impossible to post a low score on this setup.

The biggest names who appear to be heading home are Rory McIlroy and Jason Day, two of the bombing superstar favorites just a day ago. McIlroy posted a hideous 6-over 78 on Thursday afternoon, ranking last in fairways hit just a couple of days after he told reporters that if you can’t hit these uncharacteristically wide fairways, you might as well “pack your bags and go home.”

Rory will be doing just that on Friday afternoon, unable to get much back in his second round following the ugliness of Thursday. In fact, he’s gone the other way, dropping two more shots to get to 8-over. There’s only a handful of players with worse scores in the 156-man field.

Day needed to sink a clutch putt from about 15 feet on his last hole Thursday to avoid a round of 80, his highest ever in a major. It was just as ugly for the former world No. 1. Day duffed chip shots, hit wild drives into the heather, and missed most of his putts on Thursday. He didn’t quit, but he was out of it midround. While he hasn’t tumbled further down the board like Rory, he’s still at 6-over and will need to make a serious move over his final six or seven holes to have a chance to play the weekend.

While Day and Rory are almost certainly going home, other big hitters like Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson have a full 18 holes ahead of them to play their way safely onto the right side of the cut line. If the conditions stay reasonable, that’s absolutely possible for those talents. Jordan Spieth sits juuuust inside the cut line at 1-over and he’s got his full round ahead of him too. Spieth played fine on Thursday, hitting it well but making absolutely nothing on the greens.

Here’s your cut watch midday Friday: