The US Open 36-hole cut rule is one of the strictest in golf, limiting the weekend field to the top 60 players and ties — a big difference from the PGA Tour 36-hole cut rule of the top 65 and ties.

So, in a field of 156 players at the US Open, more than half are going home after the second round. Do US Open players get paid if they miss the cut?

Actually, they do, if they’re a professional golfer. At the US Open, the professionals who miss the 36-hole cut are also paid. In 2024, those professionals who missed the cut were paid $10,000. Amateurs are not paid, and it’s paid out of the total purse. This means that although the stated purse may be $21.5 million in 2024, nearly $1 million of that prize money could go to paying professional golfers who missed the cut.

At all four majors, players who miss the cut get paid:

• At the Masters, the players who miss the 36-hole cut are paid. In 2024, every professional who missed the cut was paid $10,000.
• At the British Open Championship, the players who miss the 36-hole cut are also paid, but they’re paid on a sliding scale. The first 10 professionals (and ties) to miss the cut earned $7,200, while the next 20 professional golfers and ties got $5,750 and the remaining professional golfers took home $4,850.
• At the PGA Championship, the players who miss the 36-hole cut (usually the PGA of America professionals all lumped in there) each earn $4,000.

Most weeks, when PGA Tour players miss the cut, they don’t get paid. No PGA Tour event that’s not a major pays out to players who miss the cut, though there are events where there’s no cut.