Golfers Who Made the Most Cuts in the PGA Championship

What is the tournament record for most cuts made in the PGA Championship? We'll answer that question in two different ways in this article.

First, we'll look at the total number of times, over his career, a golfer made the cut in the PGA Championship, and we'll list the golfers with the highest numbers. Then, we'll take a look at consecutive cuts made, those golfers who had the longest made-the-cut streaks in this major championship tournament.

Only stroke play tournaments have cuts, so, obviously, we are only looking at the the stroke-play years of the PGA Championship. This major began as a match play affair. In 1958, it switched to stroke play and instituted a cut following 36 holes (two rounds) of play.

Most Total Cuts Made in PGA Championship

How many times did a golfer make the cut in the PGA Championship over the course of his career? Raymond Floyd, Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson share this record. These are the leaders:

• 27 cuts made — Raymond Floyd, first in 1963, last in 1994
• 27 — Jack Nicklaus, first in 1962, last in 1995
• 27 — Phil Mickelson, first in 1993, last in 2023
• 25 — Tom Watson, first in 1973, last in 2002
• 24 — Arnold Palmer, first in 1958, last in 1989
• 24 — Hale Irwin, first in 1970, last in 1999
• 23 — Tom Kite, first in 1974, last in 2000
• 23 — Jay Haas, first in 1978, last in 2006

From that list, only Floyd, Nicklaus and Mickelson won the PGA Championship. For Watson and Palmer, the lack of a PGA Championship is what prevented them from completing the career grand slam.

Consecutive Cuts Made in the PGA Championship

Which golfers made the cut the most times consecutively in the PGA Championship? A clarification about the list that follows: It includes both consecutive years streaks and consecutive times streaks. What's the difference? Consecutive times making the cut means the golfer made the cut each time he played the PGA Championship, but there were years during the streak in which he did not play the tournament. In those cases, the years the golfer skipped are noted in the following list.

• 21 consecutive cuts made — Phil Mickelson, 1996-2016
• 19 — Billy Casper, 1958-77 (did not play 1963)
• 19 — Gary Player, 1961-81 (dnp 1967-68)
• 17 — Tom Kite, 1979-95
• 16 — Hale Irwin, 1980-99 (dnp 1987, 1989, 1996, 1998)
• 15 — Bruce Crampton, 1962-76

Where are Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods? Nicklaus' longest consecutive cuts streak in the PGA Championship was nine, which he did twice. Woods' longest consecutive cuts streak in the PGA was 13.

Related article: More PGA Championship tournament records