PGA Tour Low 65 and Ties Cut Is Now in Effect

[Frank-0-Sport]

The 2019-20 season has arrived, and so has the Low 65 and Ties Cut. Current Greenbrier Leaderboard
68 players made the cut at 4-under-136. There was a 21-way tie for 48th place (136/-4).
16 players were tied for 69th at 3-under-137, one stroke outside the Low 65
Among those two strokes outside the cut at 2-under-138 were Bryson DeChambeau, Zach Johnson and Ryan Armour.

If anyone has not yet seen the new 65-place prize money distribution, here's three sources ...

(1) 2019 Greenbrier Tie Table (PDF) -- Divide leftmost dollar figures by 1.5 for the base default amounts

(2) 2019-20 Players Rules and Regulations Handbook (PDF) -- page 55. Ignore the dollar figures shown. You must use the percentage figures to determine individual place prizes.

(3) The Talk Page for 2020 PGA Tour at Wikipedia -- Some examples presented

[Yukari]

Call me a skeptic, but this seems like the tour’s way of dodging slow play issue by individual players and attempting to appear to make the game faster. 

[Bonvivant]

12 minutes ago, Yukari said:

Call me a skeptic, but this seems like the tour’s way of dodging slow play issue by individual players and attempting to appear to make the game faster. 

This is exactly what it is. There would be no reason to make the cut tighter if people played at a proper pace.

[Shindig]

Hmm, J.B. Holmes missed the cut on the number, but he would have made it on the number under the old rules.  Looks like it did speed up weekend play!

[Frank-0-Sport]

1 hour ago, Yukari said:

Call me a skeptic, but this seems like the tour’s way of dodging slow play issue by individual players and attempting to appear to make the game faster. 

At the very least, the new cut will have only 65 players vs 70 are playing the weekend. Not much of a change, as only so many are eliminated from the weekend field.

The real test of the Low-65 cut will come in 2020 when CBS and NBC are doing weekend coverage, and on occasion a tournament runs past 6:00 pm. If play does not conclude shortly after 6:00 pm. and if there is a tie which forces a sudden-death playoff,  then there is the likelihood of the tournament continuing past the 7:00 pm prime time TV threshold. At that particular point TV coverage would shift over to Golf Channel. This unfortunately has been the occasional norm in recent years.  Whether or not the Low-65 cut resolves this issue (if at all)  remains to be seen.

As for an alternative approach to the 36-hole cut, I feel that the Tour should have given consideration to having TWO 36-hole cuts instead of one. Such a "double cut" would, in my view, work like this -- the initial 36-hole cut would be to the Low 72 and ties, followed by a 2nd 36-hole cut to the Low 54 and ties. Those who make the Low 54 would advance to the 3rd and 4th rounds, while those who make the Low 72 but not the Low 54 would receive appropriate prize money and FX Cup points. NOTE: To achieve either Low 72 or Low 54 status, a player must -NOT-  withdraw or incur a disqualification of any kind over the first 36 holes of play.

Now, suppose a player successfully makes the Low 54 cut but then  for whatever reason can not start or complete the final 36 holes of play? In such a case, and assuming -NO- occurence of a disqualification over the first 36 holes, then the status of such a player would revert from Low 54 to Low 72, and such a player would then receive the appropriate amount of prize money and FX points.

Of course, the Double 36-Hole Cut would not have changed anything with the 68 players who made the cut  at this week's Greenbrier. But it would have benefited the 16 players who finished tied 69th at 3-under-137, as they would have all received appropriate prize money and FX points.

If the PGA Tour was -REALLY- serious about tournaments finishing earlier on Sunday, especially when CBS or NBC are doing the TV, then in addition to the 36-hole Double Cut, perhaps they should do another cut after 54 holes. The 54-hole cut would would be to the Low 36 and ties, and the rules who be the same as for those for Low 72 and Low 54. If a player makes the Low 36 and ties after 54 holes, then they advance to the 4th round. Those not making the Low 36 will receive appropriate prize money and FX points. Also, those making the Low 36 but not able to start or finish the 4th round will have their status to that of Low 54.

A Low 36 and ties cut for the 4th round would allow for more flexible tee times, and for an earlier starting time off the 1st tee for the final group (the 54-hole leaders).

Edited September 14, 2019 by Frank-0-Sport

[Frank-0-Sport]

36-Hole Cut Report ... 2019 Sanderson Farms Classic     Leaderboard

Low 65 and ties .... 68 players at 3-under-141,  same number that made the cut at last week's Greenbrier.

One stroke outside the Low-65 cut .... 12 players at 2-under-142. Under the older Low-70 rule, this would've meant 80 players in 3rd round.

Alternative Low 72 Cut ... 80 players at 2-under-140.
Alternative Low 54 Cut ... 55 players at 4-under-136. The 55 would have advanced to round-3, while the other 25 would have received appropriate money and FX points.

Edited September 21, 2019 by Frank-0-Sport

[Frank-0-Sport]

Another observation on the PGA Tour's Low-65 Cut --

At the 2019 Greenbrier, 68 players made the Low 65 cut, and there was a 21-way tie for 48th place in that particular tournament.

Now imagine the "flip side", in a manner of speaking  ---

Say that at some full-field event in the near future the 36-hole cut results in 84 players playing on the weekend, mainly because there's a 21-way tie for 64th place! Only this time, there is no MDF-78 rule to use after the 3rd round,  So, barring any DQ's or WD's, that means all 84 will be teeing it up on both Saturday -AND- Sunday!

Back to the drawing board on that!

[David in FL]

I still don’t find that this affects me, or my enjoyment of televised golf at all, one way or the other...

[iacas]

15 hours ago, Frank-0-Sport said:

Back to the drawing board on that!

I don’t think so. It’s not often we see 20+ players tired at the same score, let alone right at the cut number.

[Frank-0-Sport]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

It’s not often we see 20+ players tired at the same score, let alone right at the cut number.

True! And I realize that I should added this --

"A scenario with 80-plus players making a Low-65 cut by any means  is obviously not going to occur all the time. Still, post 36-hole cut fields of 70, 75 or even 80-plus players happening on occasion remain a real possibility. And if such large weekend fields should occur often enough, and if as a result complaints arise from players and sponsors alike, then the Tour may be compelled to re-think their approach to the 36-hole cut."

[Frank-0-Sport]

36-Hole Cut Report, Shriners-Las Vegas ... LeaderBoard // Tee Times

Note: All tee times shown herein are US Pacific Time which is 3 hours behind US Eastern Time.

1: Actual Facts
» Low 65 and ties: 76 players at 5-under-137 (17 players tied for 60th at 137)

» 3rd round tee times (All off 1st tee, 38 two-player groups, 10-minute intervals) .. Earliest group out at 6:40 AM, final group out at 1:00 PM.

2: Alternative Possibilities
» Low 72 and ties: 76 players at 5-under-137
» Low 54 and ties: 59 players at 6-under-136. The 59 players making Low 54 cut play 3rd round, while the 17 players at 5-under-137 (Low 72) receive appropriate money and FX points.

» 3rd round tee times (59 players and one non-competing marker, all off 1st tee, 30 two-player groups, 10 minute intervals, a 21-minute interval between 15th and 16th groups) .. Earliest group out at 7:55 AM, final group out at 12:55 PM.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Frank-0-Sport

[Frank-0-Sport]

Mayakoba Golf Classic 36-Hole Cut .... LeaderBoard // Tee Times

1: The Actual Facts
At the weather-delayed Mayakoba Classic, the PGA Tour's Low-65 Cut Rule once again stubbed its toe. Because 20 players tied for 63rd place at the cut mark of 1-under-141, and because there's no longer an MDF-78 rule to cut the field down some after 54 holes, a post 36-hole cut field of 82 players will try to finish out the tournament as best as they can by mid-day Monday..

2: Alternative Scenario Possibilities With The Low-72/Low-54/Low-36 Cuts (refer back to post-5 in this discussion)
»» At 36 holes, 82 players make the Low-72 and ties cut at 1-under-141. Then there is a 2nd cut to the Low 54 and ties at 2-under-140. The 62 players who make the Low-54 cut at 2-under-140 would play the 3rd round, while the 20 players at 1-under-141 would receive appropriate prize money and FX points.

»» At 54 holes, a cut to the Low-36 and ties would have occurred, and those making the Low-36 cut would have gone on to finish the 4th round. Those player not making the Low 36 cut would have received appropriate prize money and FX points. Bottom Line -- Sunday's 3rd round would have had some flexibility in terms of tee times and groupings, because only 62 players would be competing. And then with only at least 36 players competing, Monday's final round would have ended fairly fast, weather permitting of course.

Edited November 17, 2019 by Frank-0-Sport

[Frank-0-Sport]

Mayakoba Update: Actual events have me standing corrected on the imagined alternative finish as suggested in the preceding post. The reduced field of the alternative scenario most definitely would have finished the 3rd and 4th rounds in one day -- a most important thing to know, if -ANY- type of change is to be made to the actual Low-65 cut rules.