How the cut is determined at the 2020 Masters under new rules

The Masters is upon us! The PGA Tour and Augusta National Golf Club moved the annual major tournament from April to November due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and it will result in some changes.

The most notable change is there will be no fans in attendance. If the tournament comes down to the wire, it will still be exciting, but we’ll miss out on some of those roars that give you goose bumps.

The most significant change for competitive purposes is the cut line. For the past seven years, the cut line included the 50 lowest scoring golfers plus ties and also anybody within 10 strokes of the leader. This year, the cut line will be the low 50 and ties, and that’s it. If you’re outside the low 50 plus ties but within ten strokes of the leader, you will not make the cut.

The change is due to the earlier darkness this weekend and all sorts of scheduling issues. We’re a little over a week into turning our clocks back and so it’s getting darker an hour earlier than normal. Additionally, this weekend will see CBS scheduling the Masters around college football on Saturday and the NFL on Sunday. There is not as much wiggle room and so, we get a potentially smaller field when the weekend arrives.