No 54-hole cut leads to opportunity, double eagle

• By Will Gray
• Jan 28, 2013 11:07 AM ET

SAN DIEGO – When heavy fog rolled in at Torrey Pines Saturday, it wiped out both a full day of play and the 54-hole cut tournament officials had planned. Nicolas Colsaerts, among others, has taken full advantage.

When 87 players made the cut, PGA Tour rules called for a secondary cut after the third round in order to reduce the field to the number closest to 70 players. Unable to play Saturday, though, that plan was abandoned, as players were not even re-paired in between the third and fourth rounds Sunday.

Were the 54-hole cut in place, the field would have been reduced to 68 players as those at 1-over 217 or worse would have been given an "MDF" label – for made cut, didn't finish – and told to go home. That group would have included Colsaerts, who was at 2-over 218 after 54 holes. The Belgian rallied in the early stages of his fourth round, though, firing a 3-under 33 after starting on the 10th hole to move all the way into a tie for 42nd by nightfall.

Like Colsaerts, Peter Tomasulo took advantage of the reprieve, moving from outside the top 70 after the third round into a tie for 42nd along with the Belgian at 1 under overall, having played the first 12 holes of his final round in 2 under.

The 54-hole cut would have also robbed fans of arguably the tournament's most exciting shot. After a 6-over 78 in the third round, Luke List would have been in line for an MDF finish, but instead was able to advance to his fourth round. On the 13th hole, his fourth of the day, List holed a 3-wood from 255 yards at the par-5 for the rarest of birds – a double eagle.

"I closed my eyes and swung as hard as I could, and it went in the hole," he joked with reporters afterwards, now 2 under in his fourth round with four holes remaining. "It makes this week pretty cool."