How many players make the cut at the PGA Championship? Cut line projection and rules

The 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow certainly didn't get off to the start that many golf fans expected. Jhonattan Vegas was the first-round leader, Ryan Gerard and Cam Davis were hot on his heels, and then guys like Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele were well down the leaderboard while other favorites such as Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau were still five strokes or more off the lead.

Despite that, the refrain heading into the second round of the PGA Championship was that there was a lot of golf still to be played and players who could make big jumps up the leaderboard. Some of those players, however, needed that jump just to make the cut at Quail Hollow.

With so many high-end players starting the second round near the cut line, that had golf fans wondering how many players make the cut at the PGA Championship and also what the cut line will be for the 2025 tournament. That's why we're here to help.

PGA Championship cut rules and how it differs from other majors

The low 70 scores and ties will make the cut after the first two rounds of the PGA Championship. That means any player who is on the leaderboard at T70 or better will get to play the weekend at Quail Hollow.

Every major championship has its own unique set of cut rules. At The Masters, the smallest field of any of the four major championships, puts only the Top 50 and ties after 36 holes into the weekend. The Open Championship, meanwhile, shares the same rules at the PGA Championship with the Top 70 and ties playing the weekend. The most brutal of the cuts comes at the US Open. Despite the grueling competition many face just to qualify, the cut is even more grueling as only the Top 60 and ties make it into the final two rounds out of a field of 156 players, the same as the PGA Championship in terms of field size.

2025 PGA Championship cut line projection for Quail Hollow

The current projected cut line at the 2025 PGA Championship is at +2 for the tournament, though +1 is still a possibility based on how things play out in the afternoon wave. Data Golf currently projects a 60.3% chance of the cut coming in at 2-over and a 35.4% chance that it sits at 1-over still. It's also at least worth mentioning that there is a minute 3.6% chance that the line could push all the way up to +3 before the second round concludes.

After the morning round at Quail Hollow, there are some big-name players flirting with missing the cut or being right on the line. Jordan Spieth, still chasing the career grand slam at the PGA, shot 3-under on Friday to get to +2 for the tournament, which could be a sweat. Meanwhile, Ludvig Åberg and Justin Thomas both shot over par to end up at +3 and putting them in an even more precarious position. Other players like Patrick Reed, Justin Rose, and Dustin Johnson undid any chance of making the cut in the second round.

Still to play in the afternoon, golf fans will be watching the likes of Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry as they hover dangerously close to the cut line and could be in danger of missing the weekend with one misstep or two.

Last 5 cut lines at the PGA Championship

When you look at the cut lines of recent PGA Championships, you start to see why there are many golf fans who have been critical of venues like Valhalla and Quail Hollow. The fact that the 2021-23 lines were all at +4 of +5 while last year's and this year's are hovering around even-par, that's a strange correlation to make in that these two most recent hosts might not be challenging players to the same degree.

A counter to that argument is 2020 at TPC Harding Park, which had a similar cut line. However, as a municipal golf course as opposed to private clubs like Valhalla and Quail Hollow, it's a much different experience for fans to see a public course elevated and yield less of a challenge than expected for the best players in the world than it would be a private club.