OAKMONT, Pa. — Golf fans wanted carnage this week at Oakmont and carnage is exactly what they’ve gotten over the first 36 holes atthe 2025 U.S. Open. The only drawback to an endless supply of the C-word? It sends a number of the biggest names in the sport home early.
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But that’s part of the charm of this championship. Everybody gets their bell rung, regardless of name-brand value, what tour they play on or what they’ve accomplished in their careers. This is not a Signature Event nor is it LIV Golf Chicago. This is the damn United States Open. You’ve got to earn your way to Saturday.
Some of the world’s best, many of whom were expected to contend this week, did not, failing to post a 36-hole total of seven over or better. Here’s 11 players we’ll be missing on the weekend at the 125th U.S. Open.
Ludvig Aberg (72-76, +8) 
Andy Lyons
A very strange year for the young Swede continues. After it looked like he’d run away with the Farmers Insurance Open, Aberg fell ill and fell to a tie for 42nd, then withdrew from Pebble Beach the following week. He appeared to get right back on track when the tour returned to Torrey Pines for the Genesis Invitational, which he won. Since then he has missed the cut at the Players, the PGA Championship and this U.S. Open, though he did finish top 10 at the Masters. Strange stuff, indeed.
Wyndham Clark (74-74, +8)
If you want to see something crazy, take a look at Clark’s Wikipedia majors section. One big beautiful green box (very good!) and a whole lot of … other stuff (bad). He’s now played in five U.S. Opens and missed the cut three times.
Patrick Cantlay (76-72, +8)
Cantlay seriously threatened to win his first major in this event just one year ago, tying for third at Pinehurst. Contrary to popular belief (that he has a poor record in the majors), that was his fifth finish of T-9 or better in a major since 2019. He has not added to that tally in the last four he’s played in, though, and he’s now missed back-to-back major cuts, making bogey on his last hole Friday to just miss out on the weekend.
Cameron Smith (75-73, +8)
The narrative that Smith’s game fell off a cliff since he joined LIV was not true early on. Following his 2022 Open Championship win and his signing with LIV a month later, the Aussie posted top-10s in three of the next five majors, including a T-6 at the 2024 Masters. Since then, however, he’s completely ghosted the top of the leaderboard at these events, going T-63, T-32, MC, MC, MC and another MC this week.
Phil Mickelson (74-74, +8) 
Warren Little
Mickelson hinted that this could be his final U.S. Open recently, though by the way he was playing early on Friday, it looked like we would get at least two more days out of Lefty in the event that has confounded him for so long. Mickelson was even par on his round and firmly inside the cut line at four over with just four holes to play in Round 2. Then he ejected, making double bogeys at the 15th and 17th holes, then just burning the edge for birdie at No. 18 to miss by one. Let’s hope it’s not the end for Mickelson in the U.S. Open, but if it is, man has it been real.
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Tommy Fleetwood (74-75, +9)
Tommy Lad gets made fun of plenty on social media for not winning in America, but nobody can say he hasn’t played well in the majors, having racked up 14 top-20 finishes in them since 2017. But he simply couldn’t get it going at Oakmont, missing the cut in a major for just the second time in his last 12 major appearances.
Bryson DeChambeau (73-77, +10) 
Andy Lyons
By far the biggest shock of all, as the defending champion was the second favorite to win behind only World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. A quote from DeChambeau earlier in the week, in which he said Oakmont was “not like Winged Foot,” where he bombed-and-gouged his way to victory in 2020, proved prophetic. DeChambeau’s couldn’t overpower the iconic venue and as a result he will be absent on the weekend at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2017 at Erin Hills.
Dustin Johnson (75-75, +10)
One of Johnson’s crowning career achievements came here at Oakmont in 2016, but that was a long time ago. Oddly enough, Johnson’s last serious result in a major came in the U.S. Open in 2023, when he tied for 10th at LACC. Since then, he’s missed six of eight major cuts, his best finish a T-31.
Joauqin Niemann (75-75, +10)
The six-time LIV Golf winner remains a one-time-top-10-in-a-major owner for another week. Niemann has now competed in 25 career majors and finished higher than T-22 only twice.
Justin Thomas (76-76, +12) 
Patrick Smith
Thomas, ranked sixth in the world according to Data Golf, made just one birdie in his opening round on Thursday. He eclipsed that total by three on Friday but made a pair of double bogeys, including four-putting the par-5 12th, and six bogeys to miss the cut by five shots. Thomas has now missed the cut at the U.S. Open in three consecutive trips and missed seven of his last 11 major cuts.
Shane Lowry (79-78, +17)
Lowry was a popular pick among the gambling community this week not only because of how he’s played this season but because of his history, albeit brief history, at Oakmont. The Irishman held the 54-hole lead here in 2016 thanks to a third-round 65, putting him four clear of Andrew Landry and the eventual champion, Dustin Johnson. He finished with a Sunday 76 that year to tie for second. After rounds of 79 and 78 this week, any good memories he had of this place are now gone. Lowry even could be heard muttering to himself “f— this place” at the par-5 fourth on Friday. OK, then.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
