Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Collin Morikawa plays a shot on the seventh hole during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on November 12, 2020, in Augusta, Georgia.

By Daniel Rapaport
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s perhaps the most anxious position for a professional golfer: Sweating out the cut line at a major championship. Pros take pride in making the cut at any tournament, but missing the weekend at the Masters hurts that much more. And because of a slight rule change and an untimely thunderstorm, five players are going to be stuck in purgatory for a whole lot longer than they’d like.

Prior to this year, a player was guaranteed to make the weekend at the Masters so long as they were inside the top 50 (and ties) or within 10 shots of the lead. That rule changed this year so only the top 50 and ties will make the cut. The 10-shot rule is no more.

And as it stands after Friday’s second round was stopped due to darkness, there are 11 players currently tied for 50th place at even par. In normal years, they’d be good to make the weekend so long as the 36-hole lead is 10 under or higher. But with no 10-shot rule, they are firmly in danger of missing the weekend. Six of those 11 still have at least eight holes of their second rounds, so they control their own destiny when play resumes at 7:30 a.m. Saturday—make birdies and make the cut.

But for the five guys who have already finished their second round—well, they’re in for one uncomfortable night.

The unlucky quintet: Collin Morikawa, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Zach Johnson, Sung Kang and Nick Taylor. They will not find out until around 9:30 a.m. whether their two-day total of 144 was good enough for the weekend. If anyone just from even par to one under, the cutline also moves to one under and they’re all off for the weekend.

While they may never admit to wishing bogeys upon their peers—bad karma—they will privately be rooting against the five guys at even par with holes to play, as well as the five guys at one over and the two guys at one under who can all impact the cutline.

Of course, this is the definition of a first-world problem. There are much, much worse situations to be in than hoping for a chance to make tens of thousands of dollars playing golf.

But as far as major championship golf goes, this is about as stressful as it gets.

More from Friday at the 2020 Masters
• Tiger Woods loses momentum, but holds on to his green jacket chances
• Abraham Ancer continues to prove that he’s a big-time player, he’s just missing one thing
• Bryson DeChambeau in danger of missing cut after disastrous third hole
• Jon Rahm hilariously (perhaps inadvertently) burns Bryson DeChambeau with two simple words
• Rory McIlroy had about as terrible a Friday morning as you could imagine at Augusta National
• Why these five guys are going to have an especially restless Friday night in Augusta
• Brooks Koepka’s play has been ‘super sloppy’ and he can still win
• Alert! Augusta National legend Jeff Knox has been called into action earlier than usual this week!
• Justin Thomas broke his odd Masters curse
• Bernhard Langer keeps building on the sneakiest good record in Masters history
• Bryson DeChambeau lost his ball in Augusta’s second cut, which we all figured was impossible
• Why you shouldn’t be surprised about Rory McIlroy’s up-and-down start at Augusta
• What you think about Dustin Johnson says more about you than him
• Who needs a driver at Augusta? Danny Willett cracks his, uses 3-wood off tee and shoots career low
• How the 36-hole cut is determined at Augusta National
• Bernhard Langer has become the oldest golfer to make the cut in the Masters