Big names, major champions miss the cut at the Masters

Though the Masters has the most generous cut among the four major championships, plenty of familiar names failed to make the weekend at Augusta National.

For players like Rickie Fowler and Ernie Els, it was bad first rounds that did in their chances.

In the case of Els, it was the first hole. He 6-putted the par-4 first, leading to a 9. Els never recovered, but he battled, shooting 8-over 80. The proud South African didn’t give up on Friday, however, shooting a 2-over 73 that was only bettered by 16 players in the 89-man field.

Fowler opened with a double-bogey 6, but four holes later, he was under par for the tournament. However, a triple-bogey 8 at the par-5 13th on Day 1 took the wind out of Fowler’s sails. Like Els, Fowler backed up 80 with a respectable Friday 73 to go home on a less-sour note.

A slew of former major champions won’t play the weekend either.

Perhaps most shocking of the major winners to miss the cut is Phil Mickelson, who missed the cut by a shot. He made back-to-back double bogeys on holes 15 and 16 after putting a ball in the water hazard on each hole. This is just the third time since 1996 that Mickelson has missed the cut at Augusta National. However, this is the second missed cut in the last three years.

Included also in the cluster of major winners to miss the cut are 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel, 2013 PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner, 2010 U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell and reigning British Open winner Zach Johnson.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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