36 holes in, and the field is cut to 69 players. The 2025 AIG Women’s Open may be held in the United Kingdom, but the Japanese are reigning terror at Royal Porthcawl. At the end of the first round, 6 stars from the Land of the Rising Sun stood tall at the top of the leaderboard. On Friday, 2 remain with a comfortable 4-stroke lead against everyone else on the field. As they continue to dominate the tournament, there are a few shocking names who fell short on the challenging links course before the weekend.

We’re here to discuss some of the biggest names who did not move through after the first couple of rounds of the last major of the season. So let’s find out the five big players who missed the cut in the 2025 AIG Women’s Open.

Brooke Henderson

2025 has not been a great year for Brooke Henderson. The beloved Canadian star has struggled to find form in 2025 as she has been underperforming all through the season. With just 1 top-10 finish and 4 missed cuts before this, the 27-year-old was hoping for a better result stepping into Royal Porthcawl. Unfortunately, that was not to be as her journey ended much before the conclusion of the 72 holes of the major.

Henderson crashed out of the tournament on Friday after missing the cut by 1 stroke. She nearly crossed the line, but missed a crucial putt on the 17th hole that led to an unnecessary error. She couldn’t recover from the mistake on the 18th as she failed to score a birdie on the par-5 18th. That was enough to push Brooke Henderson out of the $9.75 million major before the weekend.

Lilia Vu

If you thought 5 consecutive missed cuts were bad, Lilia Vu just made it 6 with the AIG Women’s Open. The 27-year-old has gradually lost all the rhythm and momentum she had gained during her 4 title-winning seasons in 2023. After those two outstanding major wins, she could only get 1 LPGA Tour title in 2024. Although Vu was still a strong contender in the major, finishing as the runner-up in both the AIG Women’s Open and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship last year. However, 2025 has been an entirely different story for her.

Vu has been troubled with injuries all through the season. That has hampered her performance on the course as well. She has barely played 11 events, including the 2025 AIG Women’s Open. Apart from the 2nd place in the Ford Championship, the American pro has failed to deliver at all this year. Lilia Vu has had a total of 7 missed cuts, 6 of which she recorded consecutively after missing the cut line in the U.K. by 5 strokes.

Ruoning Yin

Ruoning Yin has been performing well this year. She had a few great runs in majors this season. Her T2 finish in the Chevron Championship and T4 in the U.S. Women’s Open showcased that she is in fine form. However, Yin has struggled to adapt to the European conditions.

She missed her first cut of the season in the 2025 Amundi Evian Championship. Didn’t play in the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open. And now, she failed to perform in the 2025 AIG Women’s Open. She too scored a 7-over 151 to crash out of the event.

Maja Stark

Only a few weeks ago, Maja Stark was seen speaking with her idol, Annika Sorenstam, after her emphatic win over Nelly Korda & Co. in the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open. The Swedish star was over the moon as she grabbed the first major title of her career. It was one of the most memorable moments in the major this year. However, it seems that the 25-year-old golfer has completely lost momentum ever since then.

In the 4 tournaments Stark has played since the U.S. Women’s Open, she has missed the cut three times. She had not scored below par even once in any of those events. And the bad run continued in the AIG Women’s Open as well, as Maja Stark ended the tournament with an 8-over 152. Nearly a third of her holes were bogeys or worse, and she barely went under par a few times. Hopefully, the 2-time champion finds her form again and can get many more wins under her belt.

Yuka Saso

Surprise, surprise! Despite the Japanese domination, a former 2-time major winner, Yuka Saso, also missed the cut. Saso has not been at her best in 2025. Coming off an outstanding year where she won the U.S. Women’s Open, the 24-year-old has barely had an impact this year. Before her trip to the United Kingdom, she had made 5 out of the 11 cuts and didn’t have a single finish better than T17.

Things only got worse at Royal Porthcawl as the two rounds she played were plagued with bogeys and double bogeys. But perhaps the breaking point for her would have probably been the quadruple bogey on the 2nd hole on Friday. The par 4 took her 8 strokes to finish; broken, battered, and had lost any hope of recovery. Anything that happened after that was just survival in the end.