Cal Golf: Max Homa Makes the Cut, Collin Morikawa Is Out at The Players

Max Homa made the cut after all.

The 31-year-old was the only one of four ex-Cal golfers who made it past the second round at The Players Championship, a weather-barraged event that will presumably conclude on Monday at TCP Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Golfers finally finished the second round on Sunday, and when the cut line was moved from even par to plus-2, Homa advanced. He shot a one-over par score through two rounds ending on Saturday.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that Homa is tied for 57th place and 10 strokes behind leader Anirban Lahiri entering play Monday. Homa was even through 10 holes in the third round, and will play eight more holes before taking on the final 18, all in the same day.

After the rest of the field completed the second round so officials could determined who advanced and who was going home, Homa started play on the back nine. He birdied Nos. 11 and 14 before giving back both strokes with a double-bogey on No. 15.

Meanwhile, world No. 2 Collin Morikawa failed the make the cut for the first time since last August, just the eighth time in 60 career PGA Tour starts.

The 25-year-old finished play Saturday with a two-round score of four-over 148 and did not survive, even after the cut line was moved two strokes.

Morikawa had finished in the top-10 in his past four tour events, including a tie for second at the Genesis Invitational last month at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.

Also sidelined after two rounds were former Cal golfers James Hahn and Brandon Hagy, who finished up Saturday at plus 9 and plus-10, respectively.

Lahiri, ranked No. 322 in he world, made birdies on six of the 11 holes he played Sunday before play was suspended. He leads the field at nine under.

A native of Bangalore, India and seeking his first PGA Tour title, Lahiri began the day wearing four layers of clothes to combat near-freezing temperatures on the course before the sun came up.

"I was a bit scared how cold it was going to be. I'm not used to playing temperatures sub-40, and I did struggle a little bit when I came out," Lahiri said. "But it was nice to just get back into a good process and a good rhythm. Made a lot of good swings today, just kept it in front of me, made good decisions. Yeah, I mean, it was a great day.”

Harold Varner III and Tom Hoge, both through nine holes of the third round, share second place at two under.

Defending champion Justin Thomas is five strokes off the lead and tied for 18th place at minus-4 and world No. 1 Jon Rahm is tied for 38th at minus-2.

Cover photo of Anirban Lahiri by Corey Perrine, Florida Times Union

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo