How Is the Cut Determined in Golf Tournaments?
- The Opening Rounds. All players that qualify for or given a spot in a tournament are permitted to play the work week...
- 65th Place. The standard cut line for a PGA event after two rounds is the score of the 65th lowest scoring professional.
- Pre 2019-2020 season tiebraker. Prior to the 2019-2020 season, when more than 78...
How is the cut determined in golf tournaments?
How Is the Cut Determined in Golf Tournaments? Only the top scorers during the first two rounds of a tournament make the cut. Fields in golf tournaments are larger than the total number of places paid out.
What is the cut line on the PGA Tour?
What is the PGA Tour cut rule, and how is the cut line determined? Most PGA Tour events have a cut after two rounds, or 36 holes, down to a field for the final two rounds. As of the 2019-2020 season, the cut rule is down to the top 65 players and ties, with those players getting to finish out the tournament.
How many golfers make the cut after two rounds?
Between 1957 and 1960, the top 40 players and ties as well as those within 10 shots of the lead would make the cut after two rounds. This was later extended in 1961 to include the top 44 players and ties, and then altered once again in 2013 to include the top 50 and ties plus any players that finish round two within 10 shots of the leader.
What is the difference between a cut and a field in golf?
Fields in golf tournaments are larger than the total number of places paid out. A cut is used to determine which players will make it to play into the weekend and, in doing so, will qualify to receive a check from the tournament based on their place of finish.

How is the cut determined at the PGA Championship?
How exactly do they determine the cutline at the PGA Championship. According to the tournament's official guidelines: “Following the first 36 holes of play, the field of 156 players will be reduced to the low 70 scores and ties. Those players will advance to complete the final two rounds.”
How is the cut determined at The Open?
The rules for who makes the cut at the Open are similar to those at the PGA Championship: low 70 players and ties advance to play all four rounds. This differs from the U.S. Open, which makes the cut at low 60 and ties, and the Masters, which keeps the low 50 and ties around on the weekend.
What is the average cut on the PGA Tour?
Scoring Average Before CutRANKRANK LAST WEEKAVG1268.982669.003169.064469.1771 more rows
Do golf scores reset after the cut?
You cut 40 golfers every day, but after the cut, scores go back to even. It would put a premium on both consistency and pressure play, since you can't have a single “off” day, but you also need to step up on Sunday when everyone is starting from the same place.
How is the cut determined for the British Open?
The cut for the Open Championship is the top 70 scores (including ties). This year, 83 golfers made the cut, with 18 players tied for 66th at even par.
What are the cut rules at the U.S. Open?
Unlike the PGA Championship and the Open Championship, which allows the low 70 players and ties to play all four rounds, the USGA has a slightly higher bar for its “cut rule,” taking only the low 60 and ties.
How many players make the cut in the Open Championship?
70 playersHow many players make the 36-hole cut? The top 70 players and ties make the cut at the Open Championship.
What's the cut line at the U.S. Open?
U.S. Open cut rules The top 60 players in the U.S. Open field (including ties) after two rounds advance to the third and fourth rounds of the tournament. The U.S. Open has the second-strictest cut line among the four majors. Only the Masters, with the top 50 players (including ties), accepts fewer golfers.
What is the cut rule for the PGA?
As of the 2019-2020 season, the cut rule is down to the top 65 players and ties, with those players getting to finish out the tournament. Before the 2018-2019 season, the PGA Tour cut rule was to the top 70 and ties after 36 holes. All players could finish the tournament, provided less than 78 players finishing inside the 36-hole cut line.
Does the FedEx Cup have a secondary cut?
The Northern Trust, the one FedEx Cup playoff event with a cut, did not offer a MDF. The secondary cut no longer exists. All players who make the 36-hole cut are paid according to the PGA Tour purse distribution guidance. However, not every PGA Tour event has a 36-hole cut line.
How the Open Championship cut line is determined
A field of 156 players will compete for the claret jug at Royal St. George's, site of this year's Open Championship. Here’s how the cut line works in the season’s final major championship:
R&A removes Asian Tour's Open exemption
There is speculation that the move is a response to a long-term investment of $200 million into the Asian Tour by LIV Golf.
What is the cut rule in golf?
As noted, the standard cut rule applies to " regular" PGA Tour tournaments — those events that are not majors, not World Golf Championships tournaments nor other short-field tournaments, which have their own cut rules. Each of the four major championships of men's golf sets its own cut rule: Masters Cut Rule. U.S. Open Cut Rule.
What is the cut rule for PGA tournaments?
The standard cut rule used in "regular" PGA Tour tournaments (as opposed to major championships and several other tournaments that have their own, separate cut rule policies) is this: The field is cut after 36 holes to the low 70 scores plus ties. However, if that results in more than 78 golfers making ...
How many golfers are in the second round of the PGA Tour?
That further means that the second round ends with (typically) 154 golfers in the field, but the third round begins with only around 70 still playing. The golfers who failed to advance due ...
How many holes are there in a second cut?
However, if that results in more than 78 golfers making the cut (due to many golfers being tied for 70th place), a second cut takes place after 54 holes , again to the low 70 scores plus ties. PGA Tour events are 72-hole tournaments, with 18 holes played per day.
What is the third round cut on the PGA Tour?
The third-round cut is used at only a handful of tournaments per year on the PGA Tour. (The second cut is not used on any other tours.) There are exceptions to this cut rule, however, on the PGA Tour.
When was the last time the PGA cut rule was changed?
The PGA Tour Cut Rule Was Last Changed in 2016. The standard cut rule in place now on the PGA Tour has been in place since 2016, which is the year the last change was made to the tour's cut policy. However, in 2008, the tour introduced what came to be known as "Rule 78," a rule that proved quite controversial and resulted in a much larger overhaul ...
Does the British Open have a cut rule?
British Open Cut Rule. PGA Championship Cut Rule. The WGC (World Golf Championships) tournaments on the PGA Tour do not have cuts. The CIMB Classic—played in Malaysia with a field of only 78 to start—does not have a cut. Also, the tour's January winners-only tournament (currently named the Sentry Tournament of Champions) and ...
When was the cut rule changed?
This was changed in 2020 to the current cut rule, when the ‘within 10 of the lead’ part of the rule was axed.
When did the Masters cut rule change?
A brief history of the Masters cut rule. From its first staging in 1934 until 1956, the tournament was played without a cut, but this changed for the 1957 event. Between 1957 and 1960, the top 40 players and ties as well as those within 10 shots of the lead would make the cut after two rounds.
What is the cut line in golf?
The cut line is the score that players must have in order to continue playing. For example, if the cut line is +4, then all golfers in the tournament who are at +4 or better continue; those worse than +4 are cut from the field. That specific number is not known prior to the start of the tournament — only the cut rule used in the tournament is known.
What is the cut rule for golfers in the top 65?
That tour's cut rule is Top 65 golfers plus ties. The golfer (s) in 65th place might be at, say, 4-over par. But then a bunch of birdies are recorded, causing the cut line to change to 3-over ( the birdies mean a better score is required to get into the Top 65).
Why is the cutline at 2 under?
This leaderboard says the cutline is 'currently' at 2-under because the cutline can move up or down during play. Paul Kane/Getty Images. Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism.
What is the cut line in European Tour?
On the European Tour, the cut rule is that the Top 65 players plus ties advance; those players outside the Top 65 are cut. So in this example, the cut line is the score that gets the player inside the Top 65 plus ties. That might be 3-under, 1-over or 12-over, depending on the scores of the leaders and the field. For some specific cut rules, see:
Does the cut line change?
The cut rule stays the same, but the specific score it takes to make the cut — the cut line — changes depending on scores being posted by the players. This is why it is not uncommon to hear television announcers on broadcasts of pro tournaments refer to the cut line "moving" or saying "the cut line just moved" to a new score.
Can the cut line move higher?
Or, conversely, if golfers still on the course start making bogeys, the cut line can move higher, in this example to 5- over (because those bogeys allow golfers with higher scores to move into the Top 65). Just remember: The cut line is fluid, the cut rule is not.
How many golfers make the cut?
To answer the question, “how many golfers make the cut”, the answer is roughly 70, and not making the cut does not mean the end of your career. As previously mentioned even top players succumb to the cut, up till 2019 Tiger Woods has missed the cut on 20 occasions.
What does it mean when you miss the cut?
The term “missed the cut” will refer to those players who failed to advance to the next round. Their tournament is over and they can go home with no reward, except the prestige of have appeared at that venue.
