Sergio Garcia, Jason Dufner among notables to miss Masters cut

Sergio Garcia's Masters title defense didn't go as planned.

Garcia, who won his first major at Augusta National a year ago, struggled to a 36-hole total of 15-over 159 -- tied for the third-worst, two-round mark in the 87-player field -- to miss the cut, which came at 5-over 149 with 53 players advancing to the weekend.

They'll all be chasing 36-hole leader Patrick Reed at 9-under-par 135, two better than Marc Leishman, the next nearest competitor.

Garcia's tournament was truly derailed in Round 1 when he took an octuple-bogey 13 on the par-5 15th hole -- the highest score on that hole in Masters history -- and ended up with a 9-over 81. He birdied his final hole on Friday for a 6-over 78.

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Jason Dufner, the 2013 PGA Champion, joined former Masters Champions Sandy Lyle, Charl Schwartzel and Jose Maria Olazabal at 6-over 150, one shot off the cut line.

Other notables to miss the cut were Augusta resident Wesley Bryan. A rookie a year ago, Bryan punched his ticket to Augusta National with a win in Hilton Head the week after the 2017 Masters.

Bryan finished at 8-over 152.

Ryder Cup Europe hopefuls Thomas Pieters -- who was a star for Europe in 2016 at Hazeltine -- and Alex Noren missed the cut at 7 and 9 over, respectively. 

Phil Mickelson, Webb Simpson, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey all snuck in on the number at 5 over. Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Bernhard Langer will all one shot better than that at 4 over to get into the weekend.

The largest 36-hole deficit by a Masters champion was eight strokes in 1956, the year Jackie Burke Jr. stormed back to win his only green jacket. Burke also trailed by eight after 54 holes before rallying on Sunday to edge Ken Venturi by one.