Golf:Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell endured a nightmare – bogey, quadruple bogey – finish to miss the cut by two shots after the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Country Club in Florida.
McDowell had one of those frustrating rounds where birdies came freely, but so too did the bogeys.
The 30-year-old picked up three birdies in his opening seven holes – second, sixth and seventh – but dropped shots quickly followed at the eighth and ninth.
The Portrush professional eventually strung four pars together from the 10th before a third bogey at the 14th was followed by another birdie at 16.
That left him on two under, five off the lead, before the disastrous final two holes. After a bogey on the par-three 17th, he took eight shots on the par-four final hole. A 76 dropped McDowell to three over, two shots outside the cut.
Ernie Els formed part of a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard. The South African, who returned to winning ways at the WGC-CA Championship at Blue Monster in Doral a fortnight ago, was joined in a share of the lead by American trio, Davis Love III (71), DJ Trahan (68) and Ben Curtis (67).
Els shot a three under par 69 for his share of the lead on seven under, one shot ahead of the chasing pack that includes Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen, who both carded 67s.
Colin Montgomerie fired a 71 to sit one under overall, but England’s Justin Rose missed the cut.
He could only manage a 73 to go with his opening-round 75 to lie four over and will now need to win next week’s Houston Open to stay on course for a Masters place.
Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by MasterCard, Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 72):
137Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 69, Davis Love III 66 71, Ben Curtis 70 67, D.J. Trahan 69 68
138Phil Mickelson 71 67, Kevin Na 68 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 67
140Steve Stricker 69 71, Chris Couch 70 70, George McNeill 69 71, Steve Marino 70 70, J.B. Holmes 66 74, K J Choi (Kor) 71 69, Mike Weir (Can) 67 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 70
141Dustin Johnson 71 70, Robert Allenby (Aus) 68 73, Jason Dufner 69 72, Heath Slocum 69 72, Jason Day (Aus) 71 70, Derek Lamely 71 70
142Nathan Green (Aus) 69 73, Paul Goydos 70 72, Chris DiMarco 69 73, Joe Ogilvie 76 66, Tim Petrovic 74 68, Bo Van Pelt 72 70, J.P. Hayes 70 72
143Kris Blanks 74 69, Pat Perez 69 74, Erik Compton 72 71, Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 72 71, Kevin Sutherland 70 73, Sam Saunders 73 70, Kevin Streelman 68 75, Ricky Barnes 72 71, Ben Crane 69 74, Sean O'Hair 70 73, Bill Haas 72 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 73, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 73 70, Boo Weekley 70 73, Josh Teater 72 71
144Bryce Molder 74 70, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 74 70, Charles Howell III 72 72, Hunter Mahan 71 73, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 74 70, Matthew Every 74 70, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 73, Jonathan Byrd 71 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 74 70, Briny Baird 72 72, Brandt Snedeker 72 72, Skip Kendall 73 71, Stephen Ames (Can) 73 71, Ryan Moore 72 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 74
145Brian Davis (Eng) 74 71, Nick Watney 74 71, Jerry Kelly 71 74, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 75 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 74 71, Tim Herron 73 72, John Senden (Aus) 71 74, Garrett Willis 72 73, Stewart Cink 73 72, D.A. Points 73 72, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 74 71, Jim Furyk 71 74, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 74, Martin Laird (Sco) 74 71, Rickie Fowler 73 72, Scott Verplank 75 70, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 78
The following players missed the cut
146Scott McCarron 76 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 73 73, Lee Janzen 76 70, John Mallinger 72 74, Gregor Main 76 70, Matthew Jones (Aus) 71 75, Danny Lee (Nzl) 75 71, Kenny Perry 73 73, Kevin Stadler 74 72, Chad Collins 72 74
147Robert Gamez 76 71, Brian Stuard 77 70, Zach Johnson 71 76, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 76, Vaughn Taylor 72 75, Brian Gay 74 73, Billy Mayfair 77 70, Bubba Watson 76 71, Mark Wilson 70 77, Alex Prugh 74 73, John Rollins 70 77, Brett Quigley 74 73, Rocco Mediate 73 74, Jason Gore 74 73
148Justin Rose (Eng) 75 73
149Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 76 73, David Toms 71 78, Tom Gillis 75 74, David Duval 73 76, Fred Funk 75 74, Webb Simpson 73 76
150Charlie Wi (Kor) 78 72, Brendon De Jonge 76 74, Byeong-hun An (Kor) 77 73, Steve Flesch 77 73, Camilo Villegas (Col) 77 73, Andrew Magee 76 74
151Michael Allen 72 79, Ryan Palmer 74 77, Greg Owen (Eng) 77 74, Troy Matteson 79 72
154Jamie Lovemark 75 79
161Michael Campbell (Nzl) 80 81, Mike Keymont 84 77