TORONTO — Needing a round in the mid-60s to make the cut, William McGirt got off to a strong start in the second round of the PGA Tour’s Canadian Open Friday, with a holeout eagle on his first hole and a score of 32 on his first nine holes.

But the momentum fizzled over his last nine on Friday afternoon, and the Fairmont native missed the cut by five strokes.

McGirt shot a 6-over-par 78 in Thursday’s opening round. Starting on the back nine Friday, McGirt holed his approach on the par-4 10th hole from 133 yards for an opening eagle, then made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole and made a tap-in birdie at the 18th after reaching the par-5 in two to turn at 4 under for the day.

After three pars to start the front nine, McGirt had to pitch out after an errant drive on the fourth, then missed the green with his third, pitched his fourth on the green and two-putted for double bogey. He made bogey on the sixth before a birdie on the eighth, finishing the day with a 2-under 70 and a 4-over-par overall score.

McGirt made four bogeys and one triple bogey in Thursday’s first round, with one birdie.

This is the fifth missed cut in McGirt’s last six PGA Tour starts. He entered the week ranked 197th in the FedExCup standings for the 2022-23 season.

China’s Carl Yuan leads the event at 9 under par, with Aaron Rai, Tyrrell Hatton, C.T. Pan and Corey Conners each a shot back; Conners could be the first Canadian to win the national open since 1954.

McGirt reacts to PGA Tour-PIF merger

The golf world was stunned Tuesday when the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which funds LIV Golf, announced a merger into a new commercial entity combining the major forces in pro golf, essentially ending a civil war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf since the latter’s formation in 2022.

Surprised reactions were not limited to the public, as many players said in media reports or on social media they were in the dark about the merger until learning with the rest of the world Tuesday morning.

After years of anti-LIV rhetoric from the Tour and many of its leading players, many Tour members say they feel betrayed, confused, and/or misled by the Tour. McGirt was among them.

“I certainly have a ton of questions,” McGirt, a PGA Tour member since 2011, told The Robesonian. “I’d love to know what happened to make (PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan) do a complete 180. He spent two-plus years trashing everything LIV-related and Saudi-related. All of a sudden he has a massive change of heart? Really?”

Monahan famously stated “has anyone ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?” during last year’s RBC Canadian Open, played the same week as LIV’s first event, directed at players joining or considering joining the breakaway league and the controversy surrounding the Saudis’ involvement. Ahead of this year’s RBC Canadian Open, Monahan held a players-only meeting on Tuesday afternoon after the Tour’s announcement earlier in the day.

McGirt says he did not attend the meeting, but joined calls by some players for Monahan to resign as commissioner.

“I agree with the call for Jay to resign and also for the resignation of the executive level staff at the PGA Tour,” McGirt said. “They have lied to players repeatedly. The question is, when were the most lies told? Have they lied to us for the last two-plus years? Was most of what was said today a lie? We don’t know. I can tell you I will never trust a word they ever say to me again. If one of them were to tell me it’s raining, the first thing I would do is go check for myself.”

The merger between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, which is based in Europe, and the PIF would suggest the future possibility of a singular worldwide tour, but McGirt said he does not believe this will be a positive step for professional golf, saying the PGA Tour already has essentially a monopoly on professional golf in the United States.