US Open cut rules: How many players make the cut?

The US Open is one of the four majors in golf, but how does the cut work with this championship?

This year’s US Open has 156 players in the field competing, but after Friday’s round, over half will go home.

As probably the truest test in all of golf, the US Open can chew up players and spit them out without blinking twice.

The rough around the greens and fairways is usually the most out of control. Still, it’s the best test because the exempt players, along with the Top 60 in the world and those who qualified to play in this event, all have equal opportunity to win it.

An amateur could win this event, especially at this year’s venue. The Country Club at Brookline is built for historic golf, but after the first round on Thursday, it shows it can compete with modern golf too.

With interesting coming into the mix, the cutline will look more like it did during Tiger Woods’ prime than the more recent majors where it’s a birdie fest.

While all four majors are different in where they place their cutlines, this week’s rules are based on what the USGA deems worthy of a major championship.

What could the cutline be at the 2022 US Open? It’ll be closer to even par than anything.

US Open cut rules: How many players make the cut

The major championships have their own set of rules. All are 72-hole events, but the number of players that make the weekend all differ.

At the PGA Championship and Open Championship, the top 70 players and those tied with them make the play the final two rounds.

The Masters Championship is the most different because from 2013 to 2019, the top 50 players and ties, then anyone within 10 strokes of the leader, would play the weekend. However, they changed it in 20202 to the top 50 and ties, which is the rule today.

As for the US Open, the top 60 and those tied continue into the weekend. If 64 players are within the Top-60 score, all 64 will play.

How many golfers play on the weekend varies because of ties, but outside the Masters, it usually means the field gets cut in half.

Tournaments make these cutlines because it helps speed up the pace of play. Fewer players on the course mean quicker rounds, plus if someone is +8 after two rounds and out of the money, it’s easier to send them home than make them suffer two more days.

US Open cut line: What will the cut be?

The US Open tends to find courses that will challenge all of the players’ abilities. Each year, the cutline varies because sometimes the entire field is red hot, and they could struggle to get around that course in other years.

Last year the US Open was at Torrey Pines, and the cutline was at +5. Throughout the previous 10 years, the cutline at this third major championship has been +5.4, so it’s usually a tough test for even the best players in the world.

According to Data Golf, after the first round, there is a 34.3 percent chance that the cutline will be at +3, a 38.8 percent chance it’ll be at +4 and a 13.9 percent chance it’s +5.

However, this could change with some rain rolling in for the afternoon of Day 2. The cutline could get higher than +5 if there is carnage or the players find the conditions challenging.

If the cutline goes higher than +5, it means everyone is falling apart, and that would make golf fans very happy.

That blood bath isn’t likely, but +3 is a healthy cutline to predict because it’s right in the middle of things and how the guys played the course on Day 1 feels like a perfect number.

Regardless, Day 2 of the 2022 US Open is sure to watch because the Country Club is challenging golf’s best right now, and the top of the leaderboard looks like an amateur golf event instead of a major championship.

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