Tomorrow, the 146th Open Championship will be contested at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. As with every major championship, the days leading up to the tournament are filled with predictions, bets, picks, and contests. Normally, these predictions involve the best players in the world proving their worth and showing the world why they should be considered above their peers.

It would make sense that the tournaments that would bring the best out of the field would be major championships. With as much emphasis and build-up that is put on them, and as deep as the fields are, the winner must endure one of the toughest tests of golf all year long and separate himself from his peers. With all this considered, picking players that have already proved themselves to be great seems to be completely logical. It is seldom that these players are expected to underperform and miss the cut, however, and this is perhaps why there is such a strong reaction when they do.

Just about a month ago, the U.S. Open was won by Brooks Koepka after a hard-fought and well-played tournament. Despite an exciting weekend, the top-three players in the Official World Golf Rankings (Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day) all failed to make it to the weekend. This was the first time in which the top-three-ranked golfers in the world all missed the cut in any major since the establishment of the Official World Golf Rankings in 1986. Johnson missed the cut by three shots, Rory by four, and Jason by nine. Adding to this surprising situation was the golf course itself. With Erin Hills playing at 7,741 yards, making it the longest U.S. Open in history, and with rains softening the course, these players were at an obvious advantage. It seemed to be the perfect course for their games, and they were understandably among the favorites to win. This made their missed cuts even more shocking.

What followed was an influx of chatter expressing criticism and concern for these players. Headlines like, “Is It Time to Start Worrying About Rory?” or “What’s Wrong With DJ?” flooded golf websites, news outlets, and social media. There seemed to be a collective concern for the state of these players’ games and futures, and their absence over the weekend seemed to be the final straw for many people. Why that was, I have no idea.

Although each of these players had distractions and excuses for lackluster play this week, they all struck a common chord in their post-round interviews Friday; they just didn’t play well. In fact, despite having these excuses for poor play, they all conceded that their play itself was the only reason for their early exit from Erin Hills.

This is exactly why so many people took exception to their play; they didn’t play well when they were expected to. Most people reasoned that these players are so good that they should be able to at least bring their B or C game to each of the four majors and make the cut, if not contend. So what happened? Well, golf happened.

Yes, we should be able to expect that these players will make more cuts, be in contention more, and win more than most players on Tour. That doesn’t mean they are immune to bad rounds at bad times. We should hold them to a higher standard, as they have proved their eliteness, but we must be careful not to hold them to too high of a standard. This most notably links to comparisons to Tiger.

So often we hear on broadcasts, Twitter, and other forms of media things like, “Jordan missed his 15th cut today. Tiger only missed 16 in his entire career.” While comparisons like these help to put into perspective how mind-numbingly dominant Tiger was, they often have the opposite effect of putting down today’s players. It’s important to remember that none of these players are Tiger Woods, nor will any of them likely reach his level of greatness. The days of single-player domination are over. There isn’t any one player in today’s game that is just head and shoulders above his peers. Even the best players in the world are susceptible to poor play. It just comes less often to them. If we expect the same amount of consistency and dominance out of these players that we got from Tiger Woods, we will be continually let down. The fields are so deep these days, and the margin for error is so slim.

Was it surprising that DJ, Rory, and Jason all missed the cut in one of the most important tournaments of the year and on a golf course perfectly suited for them? Yes, but it happens and will continue to happen. Being on the verge of another major championship, we have to keep this mind. While it’s unlikely that these three players will all miss the cut this week, it is possible. Anybody could miss the cut, and anyone could play well. Nobody could have predicted in 2015 that Rory would miss the Open because of a soccer injury, and that then amateur Paul Dunne would have a share of the 54-hole lead. Golf is unpredictable.

With every major, there will be players that play poorly despite being strong favorites, and there will be journeymen that come out of nowhere to contend. While the Open is one of the most important tournaments all year, nobody can control when a bad round comes, not even the best in the world. In the end, everybody’s going to miss cuts. We just shouldn’t hit the panic button when they do.