The Players Championship 36-hole cut rule is the same as the PGA Tour 36-hole cut rule of the top 65 and ties.
So, in a field of 144 players at the PGA Championship, more than half are going home after the second round. Do The Players Championship players get paid if they miss the cut?
Actually, they do not.
Just as with any PGA Tour event without a cut, a player who does not make the 36-hole cut (or 54-hole cut in the case of The American Express) does not earn money for the week. There’s no honorarium or consolation money just for making the field. However, in the men’s major championships, there is money available to players for qualifying for the event.
At all four majors, players who miss the cut get paid:
- At the Masters, the players who miss the 36-hole cut are paid. In 2023, every professional who missed the cut was paid $10,000.
- At the US Open, the players who miss the 36-hole cut each earn $10,000.
- At the British Open Championship, the players who miss the 36-hole cut are also paid, but they’re paid on a sliding scale. The first 10 professionals (and ties) to miss the cut earned $7,200, while the next 20 professional golfers and ties got $5,750 and the remaining professional golfers took home $4,850.
- At the PGA Championship, the professionals who miss the 36-hole cut are also paid. In 2023, those professionals who missed the cut were paid $4,000, up from $3,200 in 2021. There are no amateurs in the PGA Championship.
Most weeks, when PGA Tour players miss the cut, they don’t get paid. No PGA Tour event that’s not a major pays out to players who miss the cut, though there are events where there’s not cut. The PGA Tour wanted to keep it consistent for their tournament most approximating a major championship.
