It’s a birdie-fest this week on the PGA Tour at the Bank of Utah Championship in Ivins, Utah.
Black Desert Resort, a Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith design, has given up birdies by the bushels, especially to Austin Smotherman, who torched the course to the tune of 17-under 125 and the lead at the midway point of the second event of the FedEx Cup Fall portion of the schedule.
Friday's second round was suspended at 7:20 p.m. local due to darkness. It will resume Saturday morning at 9 a.m. local, with three players needing to complete their second rounds, including Alejandro Tosti and Jesper Svensson, who were 5 under and on the wrong side of the cutline by a shot through 34 holes. It took 6-under 136 to make the weekend out of the 120-man field.
Seamus Power
made sure he was among them, tallying eight birdies on Friday, including at two of the last three holes to secure weekend work.
Past champion Matt McCarty two-putted from 91 feet for birdie at 18 to make it on the number. Brendon Todd shot 67 and made just his second cut in eight starts this season.
Joel Dahmen birdied the last two holes – from 25 feet and 9 feet – to shoot even-par 71 and earn a paycheck while Davis Thompson did him one better – three off the cut line with six holes to go, he birdied four holes on the front nine to get the job done.
Patrick Rodgers was straddling the cut line before making birdies on the last four holes to shoot 64 and make it with room to spare. Likewise, Jackson Koivun closed with three birdies in his final five holes to shoot 67 and make the cut on the number a week after his Presidents Cup debut.
He's not the youngest player to make the cut this week. Props to BYU sophomore and U.S. Walker Cupper Kihei Alina, who shot a pair of 67s to make the weekend. But not everyone booked a weekend tee time. Let’s take a close look at some of the notables who went home early.
Tony Finau
At least it will be a short drive home for Utah’s favorite son. The Lehu resident missed his second straight cut and now has just one top-30 finish in his last 16 starts to show for it. Not good for a six-time Tour winner. An opening-round 70 that included a double bogey and two more bogeys dug him a hole and while he shot a bogey-free 68 on Friday, his putter held him back from going low and he missed the cut by one.
“I played really nicely today,” Finau said. “Just a couple little things and a couple putts go my way — I feel like I hit really good putts and they just didn't go in. Looks like I'm going to probably just miss the weekend, but some positives as I move into next week.”
Finau entered next week’s Tour start in Japan. In his pre-tournament interview, he said he’ll likely tee it up at the Vidanta Mexico Open, a tournament where he's a past champion.
Maverick McNealy
McNealy is locked in the top 50 but given he makes his residence in nearby Las Vegas, he was apt to tee it up in southern Utah. McNealy (69-68) suffered from a poor putting week. He ranked 115th out of 118 players who completed 36 holes, losing nearly 4½ strokes on the short grass. It was just his third missed cut in 22 starts this season.
Lucas Glover
The veteran pro knows what it’s all about battling the cut line, and he made a good fight, carding seven birdies on Friday but it wasn't enough. He found himself behind the proverbial 8-ball because he made a triple-bogey 7 at the first hole, his 10th of the day on Thursday. Glover struggled on the greens, ranking 106th in SG: putting.
Nick Hardy and Cam Davis
Hardy and Davis were desperate to make a cut and it looked as if they had done enough only to fall to the wrong side of the cutline. Hardy, who entered the week at No. 193 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, made five back-nine birdies to get to 5 under. But he's still stuck at three made cuts in 13 starts.
Davis tried to overcome a triple-bogey at the par-5 seventh hole. He carded three birdies and no bogeys the rest of the way to shoot 70 but finished one shy of making the cut. He's 191st in the season-long standings with just 5 made cuts in 18 starts.
Aldrich Potgieter
The reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year remains mired in a slump. He shot 71-69 to miss the cut for the sixth time in his last eight starts. The long-hitting South African got off to an inauspicious start when his opening tee shot Thursday flew into the black lava and he made triple bogey. It was the driver early but the putter throughout that let him down. Potgieter lost more than a stroke on the greens both rounds and ranked No. 106 in SG: putting through 36 holes.
David Lingmerth
The 39-year-old Swede made his first PGA Tour start since the 2024 American Express. He still hasn’t made a cut since the 2023 Bermuda Championship after rounds of 71 and 75. Lingmerth was done in by two double bogeys on his first nine of the second round on Friday. But at least his chronic back pain that kept his sideline for two years has improved to the point that the former one-time Tour winner can chase his dreams again.
Adam Schupak is a Golfweek senior writer covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Tony Finau, Maverick McNealy among stars headed home early from Bank of Utah Championship
