The second round of the 2023 U.S. Open is underway from Los Angeles Country Club, with a pair of Southern California kids in Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele sharing the lead after record-breaking -8 62’s on Thursday.
But now we turn our attention to who will play the weekend on the North Course, where a much lower score than normal in a U.S. Open will likely be required.
How is the cut line determined?
The U.S. Open invites just the top 60 players and ties to play the weekend. That’s short of the usual PGA TOUR cut of T65 or better, and outside of The Masters is the smallest weekend field pro players will see.
What is the projected cut line for the U.S. Open as of now?
Update 6:55 p.m. With 74 players at +2 or better, and the course firming up as the sun has finally peaked through in LA, it looks like we have a cut line.
Though there are 16 players at +2 exactly, only five of them are still playing golf. And that means DataGolf says there’s a 99.8% chance +2 will be the cut line, so we’re calling it:
Players will need to be at +2 or better to play the weekend.
Update 5:55 p.m. We are down to 78 players at +2 or better, which would cut the field in exactly half. But 20 of them are at +2 exactly, and that includes 11 players that are done for the day.
Assuming the +2 holds, Padraig Harrington and Sebastian Munoz will be around for tomorrow’s play. DataGolf gives that a whopping 96.1% chance of happening.
Update 4:55 p.m. 85 players stand at +2 or better, but just 63 stand at +1 or better. With the cut being the low 60 and ties, right now it’s at +1 projected. But with the course firming up ever so slightly, and the later holes on both sides being more challenging, DataGolf has +2 as the projected cut line a whopping 87.4% of the time.
That’s good for Patrick Cantlay and Cameron Young, who are in the house at +2. But bad for Phil Mickelson, but bad for Phil MIckelson and Jordan Spieth, who will need a ton of help for their +3 to be good enough to play tomorrow.
Update 2:55 p.m. 74 players stand at +1 or better, and just 19 on the number now. The scores are shooting just slightly higher, which is to be expected even under idea conditions.
The first players of the day are now on the 18th (and 9th) green, and we can start to put some clubhouse figures up in search of the cut number.
Update 2:10 p.m. We are up to 75 players of the 156-man field at +1 or better, but a whopping 25 of them are at +1 exactly. That means afternoon conditions could be a major factor to the cut line considering 12 of them haven’t even teed off yet.
Abraham Ancer (thru 13) and Sahith Theegala (thru 11), both at + 1, likely need to come home at par or better to not have a sweat this evening.
Right now there are 73 players at +1 or better, with 19 on the +1 number exactly. But with conditions getting a bit tougher, and the USGA stiffening the course overnight so more record rounds aren’t happening, you can expect at least +2 or even +3 to be the number needed.
Who is not projected to make the cut?
Cameron Davis at +7 thru seven holes today is likely to have the next two days to himself. Joel Dahmen at +4 might need a round like the one he used to qualify for this event in 2022 to stay alive. And Kurt Kitayama at +4 thru seven as well needs some birdies coming home, which for him is via the front nine.
