– After shooting a 76 on Thursday, Jason Day admitted that he went out to play the second round with the spectre of the cut looming in his mind. “We all look at the cut,” he remarked. He almost said, “and anyone who says otherwise is lying,” which is what he truly felt. No one should try to fool Day.
– Obviously, when Scottie Scheffler arrives at a tournament, he’s not thinking about making the cut or the number needed to be there for the weekend. Neither is Jason Day. But when things aren’t going well and the cut line looms on the horizon, no one is safe from the threat. No one. That’s what the Australian refers to. “The eagle I made on the 6th put me in a position where I thought: okay, now I have a buffer and can focus solely on each shot without having to think about it (the cut). Because we all think about the cut line. I don’t care who you are: if you’re on the cut line, you’re thinking about it. Then, it’s true, there are players who are better at putting that thought aside, and others find it harder,” he explained in detail.
– And while we’re at it, let’s keep pondering the cut, that little invention that at The Open Championship, the grandfather of the Majors, was first implemented in 1898. Then, some editions were still played without it, but for almost a hundred years now, since the 1926 edition to be exact, it has never been absent from this major, nor, since that same year, from the US Open. (At the Masters, the first cut didn’t arrive until the 1957 edition; the Augusta National folks were a bit slow on this occasion).
– Anyway, after this brief historical review, let’s return to the present times. This weekend, players like Hovland, Theegala, Detry, McNealy, English, or Tom Kim won’t be at this fabulous Arnold Palmer. Tough luck. The harshness of ELIMINATION is an irreplaceable, indispensable element in high competition… Mandatory, one might add, no matter how many sappy stories the businessmen come to tell us. Very well told, of course.
– Xander Schauffele will indeed be there. The PGA and Open winner from last year put on a display of self-belief (and class) yesterday to make his 58th consecutive cut, despite having two double bogeys on holes 11 and 12 that would have condemned anyone after his 77 on Thursday.
– His 58th consecutive cut? We should agree once and for all not to count as a made cut one that is ‘achieved’ in a tournament where there is no cut, which is not the case this week. It’s obvious: how can I make or miss a cut if it doesn’t exist? The fact is that Schauffele hasn’t missed a cut since the Masters of 2022, almost three years ago, let’s stick with this staggering fact. But the case is that during this time, he has played several no-cut tournaments that are stupidly included in that tally of 58. Just as Tiger didn’t string together 142 tournaments without missing a cut (that’s the record) between February 1998 and May 2005, simply because during that time he also played a handful of tournaments that didn’t have a cut. Is it so hard to understand?
– The inconsistency reaches the point of counting the 2023 SENTRY as a made cut for Schauffele, a tournament in which he withdrew due to injury after the first round. Okay, agreed: if there’s no cut, we’re not going to count it as a missed cut either, that’s very clear; but it seems as excessive as unnecessary to count it as a made cut and therefore equate it with his small feat yesterday at Bay Hill. Gentlemen of the PGA Tour and stats enthusiasts, let’s be rigorous with this matter. Listen, the cut is a serious and tricky issue. Long live the invention.
