Friday afternoon at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was not just about who could chase the trophy. It was also about which big names were suddenly packing their bags.
Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, played tough enough to turn the 36-hole cut into a genuine test of nerve. The line settled at plus one, and several players with major credentials or strong recent form could not stay on the right side of it.
Charley Hull, Minjee Lee, Ariya Jutanugarn, Yuka Saso and Lindy Duncan all missed the weekend. Some were undone by one bad hole. Others leaked shots slowly until the scorecard ran out of room. The common thread was simple: Hazeltine offered almost no recovery once Friday pressure arrived.
Hazeltine Made Reputation Irrelevant
By Friday afternoon, past major titles did not buy a weekend tee time.
The course demanded controlled approaches, clean putting speed and enough patience to survive bad bounces. Players hovering near the cut line could not simply protect par. They had to keep finding fairways, keep leaving themselves makeable looks and avoid the single mistake that turns a major Friday into an exit interview.
That is why the missed-cut list felt so sharp. Hull arrived with major contention form. Lee arrived as the defending champion. Jutanugarn and Saso brought U.S. Women’s Open winning pedigree. Duncan entered with enough season-long steadiness to make her exit stand out.
The cut did not care. Hazeltine trimmed the field on execution.
Hull And Lee Feel The One-Shot Sting
Hull’s week had enough promise to make the finish sting.
She opened with 73, close enough to survive but with no cushion. Friday briefly offered a path back, especially after birdies at the par-5 third and par-5 seventh. Then the par-4 fifth changed the feel of the round. A double bogey erased the early momentum and left Hull fighting the course, the cut line and her own swing at the same time.
That frustration came through during a second-round walk-and-talk, when Hull said, “It never feels like we’re going to get my swing all fixed up.” It sounded less like a complaint than a major-championship truth. At Hazeltine, nothing stayed solved for long.
Hull still gave herself one more chance with a birdie at the par-5 15th. The response did not last. Bogeys at 16 and 17 pushed her back outside the number, and another 73 left her at plus two, one shot short of the weekend.
Lee’s exit made the afternoon feel even harsher.
As the defending champion, she had a real chance to steady the week after opening with 71. Instead, Friday slowly pulled the round away from her. Bogeys at the second, fifth and seventh left her chasing before she could settle into the day. The back nine offered enough holes to repair the damage, but Hazeltine never gave her the clean stretch she needed.
Dropped shots at 16 and 18 closed the door. Lee missed by one, a brutal margin for a player who lifted this trophy only a year earlier.
Major Champions Lose The Friday Fight
Once Hull and Lee fell outside the number, the cut-line story widened. This was not only about one bad finish or one defending champion losing control. The pressure kept moving through players with proven major pedigree.
Jutanugarn needed a clean second round after opening with 73. She never found the rhythm required.
Her trouble came in clusters rather than one dramatic collapse. Bogeys at the eighth and ninth soured the front side, and two more at 12 and 13 pushed the weekend farther away. A 75 left her at plus four, 3 shots outside the cut.
For Jutanugarn, the round showed how Hazeltine punished drift. A missed fairway here, a failed par save there, and suddenly the scoreboard stopped offering room to breathe.
Saso’s exit landed even heavier.
The 2-time U.S. Women’s Open champion began Friday at even par, which should have been a workable position. Instead, the round tilted almost immediately. Bogeys on the first and second holes put her under pressure before she could settle. The decisive blow came at the par-3 eighth, where a double bogey left her with too much to repair.
The back nine never produced the charge she needed. More dropped shots at the 10th and 13th left her at plus six, 5 shots outside the cut. For a player with her major record, it was the loudest early exit of the group.
Duncan Shows How Thin The Line Became
Duncan’s missed cut told a quieter but useful story. She was not carrying the same headline weight as Lee or Saso, but her card showed how quickly Hazeltine punished ordinary mistakes.
Her first-round 75 left her chasing. The damage came from a rough closing stretch that included bogeys at 10, 12, 13, 15 and 18. By Friday morning, she had little room left.
Then came the fightback.
Three straight bogeys from the third through fifth holes could have ended the week outright. Duncan answered instead, making an eagle at the seventh and birdies at the eighth and ninth. For a few holes, the card had life again. That surge also showed how narrow the cut-line battle had become. One clean run could revive a player. One loose stretch could erase her.
A second-round 72 still left Duncan at plus three, 2 shots outside the cut. It was not a collapse. It was just not enough.
The Weekend Field Earned Its Place
The players teeing it up Saturday did more than survive a number. They handled a major setup that punished impatience and exposed loose stretches.
That is the bigger lesson from the cut. The LPGA’s depth keeps shrinking the gap between established names and the rest of the field. At Hazeltine, reputation mattered less than Friday execution.
Hull and Lee missed by one. Duncan missed by two. Jutanugarn and Saso left themselves too much to repair. Each exit came from a different scorecard pattern, but all pointed to the same truth.
The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship did not need chaos to feel ruthless. It only needed a plus-one cut line, a demanding course and a field deep enough to send major champions home early.
READ MORE: From Djokovic To Damm: Silent Schedule Change Puts Wimbledon On Edge
FAQs
Who missed the cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship?
Charley Hull, Minjee Lee, Ariya Jutanugarn, Yuka Saso and Lindy Duncan all missed the weekend at Hazeltine.
What was the cut line at Hazeltine?
The cut line settled at plus one, which left several major names just outside the weekend field.
Where is the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship being played?
The championship is being played at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.
Why did Charley Hull miss the cut?
Hull finished at plus two after late bogeys at 16 and 17 pushed her one shot outside the number.
Why was Minjee Lee’s missed cut surprising?
Lee entered as the defending champion, but a difficult second round left her one shot short of the weekend.
