Watson exits as nine former champions miss cut

Nine former winners of the tournament failed to survive the Masters cut on Friday night. Veterans Bernhard Langer, Larry Mize, Sandy Lyle, Ben Crenshaw, Ian Woosnam, Craig Stadler and Tom Watson all failed to make it to the weekend.

"It's disappointing. It's very disappointing because I knew what I had to do and I didn't do it," said the 62-year-old Watson, who finished second in the 2009 Open.

Mize's appearance came 25 years after his Masters win but there was no repeat of 1987, when he chipped in to beat Greg Norman in a play-off. "I wasn't as comfortable with my game at times as I would like to be on the course, but I always love playing this golf course and coming here," he said.

The Canadian Mike Weir, the 2003 winner, and Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal, who triumphed at Augusta in 1994 and 1999, also failed to progress into round three.

The reigning Open champion, Darren Clarke, of Northern Ireland, was also heading home after shooting 81, with double bogeyson the 13th and 17th holes.

The cut was made at 149, five over par. A total of 63 players, from an initial field of 89 professionals and six amateurs, survived.

Woosnam missed the cut at his 24th Masters as he finished 10 over par. The 1991 winner and former world No 1 shot five over par on both days to miss his 11th cut in 12 outings. Birdies on the opening two holes on day two rekindled his hopes of making the weekend, but double bogeys on five and seven damaged the 54-year-old's card.

Woosnam's tournament concluded with a bogey on the18th as he joined his former Shropshire junior rival and long-time friend Lyle in an early exit.

Three dropped shots on the back nine of his opening round cost Woosnam on day one. Europe's 2006 Ryder Cup-winning captain showed a glimpse of his old form when he birdied the par-three 12th on Friday, but a bogey on 18 took his score to 10 over par. Woosnam, who suffers from spondylitis and requires a weekly injection in his troubled back in order to continue playing golf competitively, has only made the Masters cut once – in 2008 – since 2000.

Lyle slumped to his worst Masters score to miss the cut for the third year in a row. The 54-year-old, the first Briton to win at Augusta in 1988, struggled to a 14-over 86 in the first round. On Friday he posted 78 for a 36-hole total of 20 over.

In his previous 30 Masters appearances dating back to 1980, Lyle's highest score was 17 over, in 2006. The Scot made two birdies at the par fives but in his two rounds he carded 13 bogeys, three doubles and a triple at the par-four seventh.

British hopefuls Paul Casey – just back from injury – and Simon Dyson also failed to make the weekend.