The Masters: 5 golfers who disappointed in 2022’s first major

Scottie Scheffler is the 2022 Masters champion and deserves all the credit in the world but there were several golfers who fell short of expectations.

Continuing an all-time heater, Scottie Scheffler is the 2022 Masters champion and fully entrenched as the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world. He deserves all of the flowers given to him for what he’s doing right now and what he did at Augusta National Golf Club this week.

But as soon as we give all the credit to Scheffler, we also have to look at the other side of the coin and the players who let us down at Augusta.

We’re not talking about a player like Cameron Smith who tried to be too aggressive to chase down Scheffler and it cost him on Sunday. We’re not even talking about Mr. Par 67 himself, Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 12-over and missed the cut — that’s obviously injury and form-related and, frankly, should’ve been expected. Perhaps you could include the first three rounds from Rory McIlroy, but his electric final round might’ve erased that disappointment.

No, we’re looking at five golfers who came to The Masters with expectations and failed to deliver on them in a major way.

The Masters: 5 golfers who disappointed at Augusta

5. Tyrrell Hatton (52nd, +17)

When the first round concluded, Tyrrell Hatton shot even-par for the day but seemed primed to make a massive run. The Englishman led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green on Thursday but bled strokes putting, something he could turn around. Instead, after a pedestrian 2-over round on Friday to make the cut, he completely ejected on the weekend.

Hatton lost over 12 strokes tee-to-green on the weekend alone, which is almost impressive in how poor of a performance that is. For a player who plays with such fiery emotion, it’s tough to see him get so lost so quickly when he clearly has the game to be a factor in big tournaments such as this, majors or otherwise.

4. Xander Schauffele (MC, +7)

After being among the biggest threats to Hideki Matsuyama in 2021 and with a strong history at The Masters, the belief was that Schauffele was going to show up and make his mark in 2022 yet again. His mark, it turned out, was joining a host of big names with nice histories at Augusta who missed the cut.

Over two rounds, Schauffele lost 2.8 strokes tee-to-green and gained a bit on the greens, but not enough to offset the rest of his game being in poor form. It’s impossible to question the talent of Schauffele but it is right to question the lack of winning and big-time performances from him over his career. This week didn’t do anything to dispel the creeping doubts about him.

3. Brooks Koepka (MC, +6)

Brooks Koepka looking healthy, trending up a bit in terms of his recent form and taking on a major championship, a format in which he’s always thrived, seemed like a recipe to back him this week. Instead, the guy just came out and laid an egg.

He ended up missing the cut at 6-over for the first two rounds and the putter was to blame. Over just two rounds, he lost 5.22 strokes on the green and it looked even worse than that to the eye test. The ball-striking was average at best and the major-hunter we’ve come to know and appreciate was nothing of the sort at Augusta, which you hate to see. Majors are more fun when Koepka is flipping that switch.

2. Justin Thomas (T8, -1)

When you look at the final leaderboard, it’s hard to totally be upset with the way Justin Thomas finished. He ended up finishing T8 at a score of 1-under par, one of just nine players to finish the tournament under par. And yet, it’s hard to think that he didn’t leave a lot out there this week. He had his worst approach round in 2.5 years on Thursday to dig himself into a hole, the driver wasn’t reliable when he needed it to be and he just couldn’t compete when he very well should’ve given how he played with his irons on Friday and Saturday. Perhaps this is because I picked him to win, but I walked away feeling like JT wasn’t as good as he could’ve and should’ve been this week.

1. Jordan Spieth (MC, +6)

All of the signs were there to not back Jordan Spieth in terms of his swing and form coming to Augusta, but he was too enticing to ignore given his Masters history. Well, it turns out that playing poorly isn’t going to suit you well in this tournament.

Everything was lost for Spieth as it has been this year for the most part. He lost over 3.5 strokes on approach, gained dismissably off the tee and lost over a stroke on the greens. There’s no part of the game to feel confident in right now, which is tough to see at a place where he’s played so well. This is is first missed cut ever at Augusta National Golf Club and it’s hard to see where we go from here.

For more from The PGA Tour, The Masters and more, make sure to follow FanSided and stay tuned to our golf hub for all the latest news and results.