THE PLAYERS Championship 2023: What is cut line, how is it determined, who will miss

THE PLAYERS Championship had to extend the first round into Friday to wrap things up, but we are into Round 2 now and a challenging track in Ponte Vedra Beach is continuing to show her teeth. Below is an overview of the cut line heading into the weekend

The cut line at 36 holes is the top 65 players plus those tied at the end of that group.

The projected cut as of the late morning (around 10:45 a.m. ET) is even par. There are plenty of golfers who are below the cut line and we’ll highlight some notable names below.

Update 10:18 a.m. — The cut line finished at +2. Notable names that missed the cut included Rory McIlroy, Chris Kirk, Keegan Bradley, Kurt Kitayama, and Seamus Power. 75 players made the cut.

Update Saturday, 9:25 a.m. — The field returned to play at 7:01 a.m. With a handful of golfers still on the course, the cut is now +2. There are 76 players that are currently projected to make the cut.

Update 7:20 p.m. — We still have 71 players on the course, but they’ll get a much easier track to attack tomorrow morning. We currently have 67 players at +1 or better, but expect scores to potentially go lower on the soft track full of morning dew tomorrow.

Update 6:00 p.m. — There are still players with 11 holes remaining on the day, so we’re not going to have a cut on Friday night yet again. But it does seems pretty sure that the line will be somewhere between +1 and +2. And if I’m a golfer with a lot of holes left to play, coming back to a softer course to finish on Saturday morning sounds much, much more appealing.

But that probably won’t help pre-tournament favorite Rory McIlroy, who is +2 on the day and +6 for the event with eight holes remaining. It’s been a disaster so far for him, and he can start thinking about Augusta National shortly.

Update, 11:55 a.m. ET — We are at +1 now as the cut line, with a whopping 84 players on that number or better, and 21 exactly at +1. If yesterday was any indication, with the afternoon tee times shooting a full two strokes higher than the morning ones, that might not be the first time the number moves into the black today. And it would be a stunner if that many players were able to stay on the number.

Expect plenty of pain for one of the deepest fields in golf on Friday.

Update, 10:45 a.m. ET — Among the big names who would miss the cut if the tournament ended now include Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Sungjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama and Rory McIlroy. Fortunately, most of these elite golfers have a chance to make it above the cut line.