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Golf Monthly
Golf Monthly
Sport
Jonny Leighfield

Does The Olympic Golf Tournament Have A Cut?

Xander Schauffele tees off in front of a huge crowd at Le Golf National during round one of the Paris 2024 men's Olympic golf tournament.

60 men and 60 women will battle it out in separate tournaments at Le Golf National as golf returns to the Olympic Games for a third time since a 112-year break between 1904 and 2016.

While golf might look different at the Olympics for LA 2028 and beyond, the format in France will be individual stroke play across four days, with the lowest total winning gold.

This is despite many countries sending two players to represent them - although the men's US squad has four representatives while their female peers are joined by South Korea in having three.

However - unlike to the majority of top events across the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, DP World Tour and beyond - the Olympic golf tournaments will not have a cut after 36 holes.

For people who are new to golf, 'the cut' is a way of reducing the field in size by only allowing those with the leading scores to progress through to the final two rounds. Usually, the cut is made after the second round at a point where players are either outside the top-65 on the leaderboard or more than 10 strokes back of the golfer in first place.

Nelly Korda and Xander Schauffele won gold at the Tokyo Olympics (Image credit: Getty Images)

The reason there is no cut at the Olympic golf event is because of the much smaller field compared to a regular tour event or Major championship, where 150-plus golfers feature.

The PGA Tour has begun to differ over the past two seasons by introducing Signature Events, with roughly 70-80 players teeing it up in the eight tournaments with increased prize money and FedEx Cup points on offer.

There were three tournaments in the 2024 calendar where a cut did remain, though - Tiger Woods' Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament.

Otherwise, Olympic golf follows the same set of rules and guidelines as regular tour play, just with players trying to win a medal instead of attempting to secure a trophy which is often accompanied by a large winner's check.

Depending on the country they are representing, Olympic golfers can still win some money for obtaining a medal - as well as a number of other perks.

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