The British Open got underway on Thursday morning at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, and it was clear from the get-go that the golf was going to be a wild ride in the final major championship of 2025. The Open Championship always delivers immediate and constant drama that will get golf fans on the edges of their seats. Whether that was Bryson DeChambeau ejecting in the first round, Rory McIlroy going on a rollercoaster, or the likes of Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood, among others, fighting to stay in position to make the cut, it was all fun at The Open in Thursday's first round.
That raised the anticipation level at the British Open tenfold going into Friday, knowing that the cut line is looming later in the afternoon. And we saw some players, Hovland, Fleetwood and Ludvig Åberg among them, making moves at Portrush right out of the gate. And the fact that the conditions were much less Open Championship-like than the first day of the tournament made it all the more interesting with cut line sweats coming — and the cut line itself almost sure to move.
But how many players make the cut at the British Open? And what is the cut line going to be at Royal Portrush? Here's what we can tell you about The Open cut line and where we're heading this week.
How many players make the cut at The Open?
The Top 70 players and ties after 36 holes of play will make the cut at the British Open at Royal Portrush, as has been the case for several years now. Obviously, The Open cut rules have changed over the years as the tournament has continued to grow in notoriety and field size. However, it's always fascinating to look at the four modern major championships in this capacity, because they all have different cut rules.
The Masters, which also has the smallest field of the four majors, has the smallest cut with only the Top 50 and ties making it through after 36 holes. At the U.S. Open, meanwhile, the cut line is quite vicious with the same field size as The Open, but only the Top 60 and ties getting through to the weekend. The PGA Championship, however, also has the Top 70 and ties as their cut rules.
Open Championship cut line projection
The current projected British Open cut line is +2 at Royal Portrush, though there is still a chance early in the second round that the cut could move to either +1 or +3 as well. We saw the number on Thursday about midway through the first round get something close to +4 at one point. However, the late-wave conditions were a bit softer, which continued through early on Friday as well, pushing the cut line back down closer to even par.
The projected cut line models from Datagolf currently give a 61.1% chance that the number will be +2 at the end of the second round. That probability continues to rise and look the most likely option. However, there is also still a 29.2% chance that the cut line could end up at +3, with a diminishing 8.4% chance that +1 could still be in play. Scores would really have to flip for it to get that low, though.
More so than most other tournaments, though, the cut line at The Open Championship can be highly volatile. The weather changing on a dime means that scores can go wildly in different directions throughout the day. That could be on the softer side with a day like Friday, though, as the wind and rain that was speckled throughout the first round seemed to largely go by the wayside. But again, that can change in an instant.
Projections will continue to update throughout the round.
British Open cut line for the last 5 tournaments
Year (Course) | Cut Line | Number of Players to Make the Cut |
|---|---|---|
2024 (Royal Troon) | +6 | 80 |
2023 (Royal Liverpool) | +3 | 76 |
2022 (St. Andrews) | E | 83 |
2021 (Royal St. Georges) | +1 | 77 |
2019 (Royal Portrush) | +1 | 73 |
The last time The Open came to Royal Portrush in 2019, the cut line ended up at just +1. However, the conditions for the 2025 British Open, at least in Round 1, appeared to be much more demanding than six years ago (there was no Open Championship in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), so that's why we're likely to see the cut line creep up a bit higher this time around. It should be more congruent with the cuts that we've seen in the past couple of years at Royal Troon and Royal Liverpool than on line with 2019, Royal St. Georges or St. Andrews.
And in case anyone was wondering, back in 1951, the only other time that Royal Portrush hosted The Open Championship, the cut line ended up at +10 to play the weekend. Only 46 players made the cut that year when the rules were much more stringent.