Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick among cut casualties at Arnold Palmer Invitational

ORLANDO, Fla. – Brian Harman surely wasn’t happy with his bogey on Bay Hill’s 18th hole Friday afternoon, but there were a half-dozen players who could smile about it.

Harman was alone in the lead at 8-under par when he arrived at the final hole. He pushed his drive into the rough, however, and he hit his next shot into a greenside bunker behind the green. When he couldn’t get up-and-down from the sand, Harman dropped back to 7-under par and into a tie for the lead.

That bogey allowed six players to stay at Bay Hill Club & Lodge an additional two days. The TOUR’s three player-hosted invitationals – Tiger Woods’ The Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament presented by Workday – are the only Signature Events with a 36-hole cut. It’s an homage to the tradition and legacy of the tournaments’ legendary hosts.

For each of these three events, the field is cut to the low 50 players and ties, as well as any player within 10 shots of the lead. Because Harman’s bogey dropped the lead back to 7-under par, six players at 3-over par qualified for the weekend. Those six players will start the weekend in a tie for 53rd place.

Rickie Fowler, Ludvig Åberg, Tom Kim and the TOUR’s top rookie this season, Jake Knapp, were among the players who benefitted from Harman’s bogey on 18, which also allowed Luke List and Christiaan Bezuidenhout to qualify for the weekend.

The cut fell at 4-over 148, claiming 11 players from the 69-man field. The list of players who did not qualify for the weekend includes defending champion Kurt Kitayama, ending his streak of 10 consecutive cuts made. Tommy Fleetwood, who made a 10 on Bay Hill’s sixth hole Friday. Matt Fitzpatrick, Adam Scott, Collin Morikawa, Nicolai Højgaard and Justin Rose also are among the cut’s casualties. Morikawa and Fleetwood both shot 80 on Friday.

David Ford, the world’s third-ranked amateur, also missed the cut following his first-round 71 with an 83. Ford was in the field as the Arnold Palmer Cup Award winner, earning an exemption voted on by his peers at last year’s Arnold Palmer Cup.