Both South Africans failed to advance in the Arnold Palmer Invitational field, where Tommy Fleetwood co-leads this weekend.
Els missed the mark by a single shot after a disappointing day (75) with his irons. The Big Easy was in full control off the tee, where he hit 13 of 14 fairways.
His numbers dropped significantly from there with 6 greens in regulation missed on a day when he carded three bogeys and not a single birdie. Joining Els in a weekend off was Phil Mickelson, last week’s contender Vijah Singh and Els’ countryman Oosthuizen.
The former Open champion, still searching for his maiden win on US soil, fired an even par round off the back of a strong putting display, but was unable to reverse the damage done during round one.
An opening 76 left Oosthuizen way down the pack, but after not missing a putt inside 10 feet all day on Friday, he was able to consolidate for a 72.
Not suffering from missed cut woes were Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley, who both hold a healthy lead at the halfway mark. The Englishman, a former Race to Dubai winner, posted a 66 that included two eagles to get to -9 alongside Bradley, a former PGA Championship winner.
Roger Sloan, Kevin Kisner, Keith Mitchell, Billy Horschel, Jhonattan Vegas join Francesco Molinari in the group sharing third at -5, with all of Matt Wallace, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Aaron Baddeley, Sungjae Im, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson and Eddie Pepperell sharing ninth.
