Watching a professional golf tournament on a Friday afternoon brings a special kind of drama, all centered around a single, shifting number: the cut line. You see it flashing on the screen, hear the commentators talk about it constantly, and watch players grind over three-foot putts to stay on the number. Seeing that line is one thing, but understanding the forces that push and pull it up and down is another. This guide will walk you through exactly what determines the cut line in golf, from the basic rules to the subtle factors that make every tournament's cut a unique challenge.
The cut is a mechanism used in most professional golf tournaments to reduce the field of players after the first two rounds (typically played on Thursday and Friday). Most stroke-play events on a major tour, like the PGA TOUR, start with a large field - often 144 or 156 players. Managing that many golfers for four full days is a logistical challenge, affecting everything from the pace of play to the television broadcast schedule.
In short, the cut serves two main purposes:
While many casual fans believe the cut is a set score, like even par, that’s a common misconception. The cut line is not a predetermined score, it's determined by a tournament's specific rule regarding the number of players who advance.
The most common cut rule, used by the PGA TOUR, is that the top 65 players and anyone tied with the 65th-place player make the cut. This is the cornerstone of understanding how the line is formed.
Let's walk through an example. Imagine after 36 holes, the leaderboard looks something like this:
Even though there are players ranked lower than 65th, Players E, F, and G are tied with the player in 65th place at a score of +2. Therefore, the cut line would be set at +2, and all players with a score of +2 or better would advance to the weekend. In this case, 68 players would make the cut, not just 65.
Because the cut is based on player-count, the actual score can fluctuate dramatically from week to week. A cut might be -5 one week and +5 the next. So, what causes this variation?
Think of the cut line as a floating target driven by four constantly changing variables. As a golf coach, understanding these elements is fundamental to course strategy, and as a fan, it makes watching the Friday action far more compelling.
This is probably the biggest factor. A golf course's inherent design and how it's prepared for a tournament has a massive impact on scoring. Some courses are just easier to score on than others.
Weather is the great equalizer. Even the easiest course setup can become a monster if the conditions turn sour. Wind is the most significant scoring disruptor, but rain and cold also play major roles.
A classic example is The Open Championship in the UK, where brutal coastal wind and rain can send scores soaring and push the cut numbers much higher than they would be in calm conditions.
The overall talent level of the golfers in a tournament also has a subtle effect. When you gather the world’s best players for a Major or a "Signature Event," the average skill level is incredibly high.
A field where every player is capable of shooting low scores creates more competition around that 65th-place bubble. This intense competition can push the cut line lower (a better score) by a stroke compared to a "regular" tour event where the field might not be as deep with top-tier talent. More good players mean you have to shoot a better score to stay ahead of at least 90 of them.
While Top 65 and ties is the standard, it's not universal. Different tournaments have their own rules which directly dictate how the cut operates.
The starting field size of regular events also makes a difference. A 156-player tournament requires you to beat 91 players (plus ties) to make the cut. A 132-player event only requires you to beat 67. This slight mathematical difference can influence where the line ultimately lands.
Occasionally, you might hear older golf fans or commentators mention "MDF." This stood for "Made Cut, Did not Finish" and was a secondary cut rule the PGA TOUR used for a while.
It came into play when the "top 65 and ties" rule resulted in more than 78 players making the weekend. If, for instance, 82 players made the cut at +2, the TOUR would implement another cut after Saturday's third round. Only the top 70 and ties after 54 holes would play on Sunday. The players cut on Saturday were given the "MDF" designation, receiving official prize money and FedExCup points, but they were not allowed to finish the tournament.
This rule was unpopular with players and fans alike and was eliminated in 2019. Now, however many players make the initial 36-hole cut get to play the full weekend.
The cut line in golf isn't a simple, fixed score. It's a dynamic number that lives and breathes based on the rules of the event, the difficulty of the course, the day's weather, and the performance of the players themselves. Understanding this makes watching the Friday battle infinitely more interesting, as you can appreciate the forces working for or against every player bubble.
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