Inability to find fairways keeps Guthrie from playing weekend at Valspar Championship

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Luke Guthrie’s return to the PGA Tour lasted four days.

A wayward driver kept him from sticking around at least a couple of days longer.

The Quincy native reached 4-under par after back-to-back birdies early in the back nine of Friday’s second round of the Valspar Championship on the Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club. However, he bogeyed three of his final five holes to shoot an even-par 71 and miss the cut by one stroke.

Guthrie finished tied for 73rd at 2-under 140.

This was the first PGA Tour event for Guthrie since the 2019 U.S. Open, and he earned his spot by finishing in the top four in a Monday qualifier. Now he’ll head back to the Korn Ferry Tour and try to regain his PGA Tour card through it.

His struggles off the tee will need to be corrected to make that happen.

Guthrie finished tied for 125 in the 144-player field in driving accuracy, hitting just 11 of 26 fairways. He hit 6 of 13 fairways Friday, but he missed two of the three fairways on the holes he bogeyed down the stretch. On the par-5 fifth hole — Guthrie started Friday’s round on the back nine — his drive found the fairway, but his second shot ended up in the tree outline and his third shot ended up in the rough.

Guthrie played the four par-5s in 1-over both days and missed the fairway on five of the eight par-5 holes played.

By comparison, tournament leader Matthew NeSmith, who was at 14-under through 36 holes, played the par-5s in 4-under Friday and 6-under overall. Adam Hadwin, who is in second place at 12-under, is 4-under on the par-5s this week.

The second round started rough for Guthrie, who bogeyed the par-4 10th hole when his tee shot found the left rough. He made birdie on the par-3 13th and rattled off five consecutive pars to make the turn at even-par 35.