The rule and live projection serve different purposes
The cut rule identifies who progresses once the relevant rounds are complete. A projected line translates the current field’s scores into a provisional estimate during play. That estimate can move while golfers still have holes remaining, without the tournament changing its cut rule.
When watching a replay, keep the timestamp or stage of the second round with any projected line. A player apparently safe on an early graphic can finish outside the final qualifying positions if the rest of the field changes the distribution. The completed official leaderboard is the reference.
Ties can make the weekend field larger
Both primary 2026 guides include ties in their threshold. The named number is therefore not a promise that exactly that many golfers will continue. Several players sharing the boundary score can all qualify, creating a larger weekend field than a literal headcount interpretation suggests.
That also explains why a listing can show a rank accompanied by a tie marker. Keep the complete tied group when comparing an archive scorecard with a later tee sheet. Do not select an arbitrary number of names from an alphabetically sorted tied group and infer that the others were eliminated.
Use the competition’s own cut provisions
The PGA of America’s 2026 explanation expressly says there is one halfway cut and no second cut for those who make it. A player still appearing on Sunday despite a poor Saturday is therefore compatible with that stated structure. An assumed additional elimination would create a false archive gap.
The current sources were checked on 4 November 2026. The different Masters and PGA thresholds are used here to show why event identity matters, rather than create interchangeable number-based guides. Check the actual edition and final leaderboard before describing a player as having made or missed a cut.