This tour pro waited overnight to try to make his first cut since November. Here’s how it worked out

The wait was worth it, even if it didn’t work out quite the way Nick Hardy had hoped. And even if the outcome was a bit painful.

Needing to hole a 23-foot birdie putt from the just off the green on TPC Scottsdale’s par-4 ninth to make the cut at the WM Phoenix Open—which he chose to hold off on trying until Saturday morning—the 29-year-old just missed three inches short and to the left. The tap-in par gave him a one-over 72 for his second round and a one-under 141 for the tournament, one shot more than he needed to play another 36 holes.

“Honestly, I hit a good putt,” Hardy said. “I hit it probably a foot too short. If I hit a foot harder, it’s in the hole.”

Despite the outcome, Hardy, who was playing in the fourth from the last pairing off the 10th tee when Friday’s second round began, insisted it was the right decision not to attempt the putt in the gloaming, particularly given what was on the line. Prior to the WMPO, the former University of Illinois golfer had missed five straight cuts, dating back to the World Wide Technology Championship in November. He finished 147th on the FedEx Cup points list in 2024, but thanks to winning the 2023 Zurich Classic with Davis Riley, he still had his card for 2025.

So the chance to be fresh for the putt was too big to turn down.

“Honestly, I hit a good putt,” Hardy said. “I hit it probably a foot too short. If I hit a foot harder, it’s in the hole.”

Hardy mentioned that he found similar putt on the practice putting green that he worked on before the 7:42 a.m. local time restart.

“I did everything I could,” Hardy said. “I told [my caddie] I was really happy that he persuaded me to wait. I think in the moment you feel like you’re ready to hit out but we don’t get time outs in golf. I looked at it like more as a respect for the amount of work I’ve put in my career. And just to have the respect for the work you put in and come out tomorrow, that’s important.”

Also trying to determine his weekend fate on Saturday morning was Lanto Griffin, who was in a fairway bunker on the par-4 eighth hole when play was suspended Friday. Griffin was at two under for the tournament, needing a pair of pars to make the cut. Upon returning to TPC Scottsdale, he unfortunately missed the green with his approach shot and failed to get up and down for par. On the ninth hole, he set himself up for a 30-foot birdie putt that could have offset the bogey, but came up short in his effort.

All told 77 players made the two-under cutline. Among those right on the number was Emiliano Grillo, whose second round was highlighted by a slam-dunk hole-in-one on the famed par-3 16th Stadium hole.