Okay, let’s talk about figuring out that US Open projected cut line for 2024. It’s always a bit of a game trying to guess where it’ll land, especially with a tough course like Pinehurst No. 2.
Getting Started – Thursday Observations
So, Thursday, Round 1, I basically just had the scores up on my computer while I was doing other stuff. You can’t really project much on day one, but I was watching the leaderboard, seeing how guys were handling the course. You get a feel for whether it’s playing super tough or if there are birdies out there. Saw a lot of guys struggling to make par, lots of big numbers early. That already told me the cut wasn’t going to be under par, no way.
Friday Morning – Looking for Clues
Friday morning is when I really started digging into the projected cut thing. First, I just refreshed the main leaderboard on the US Open site and my sports app. You look at where the top 60 and ties are sitting. Early Friday, maybe guys were around +3, +4, +5 in that zone.
Then I actually searched online. Typed stuff like “US Open 2024 projected cut” into Google. Lots of sports sites and golf blogs start throwing out numbers then. They’re just guesses, educated guesses, mind you, based on who’s finished, who’s still out there, and how the course conditions look.
Tracking Live Scores and Projections
Throughout Friday, I kept checking back. I found a few different places giving projections:
- Some sports news sites had live blogs running with estimates.
- Specific golf websites often have a dedicated tracker.
- Even saw some analysts on social media giving their best guess.
They weren’t always the same! Early Friday, I saw some saying +4, others +5. As the afternoon wave started, and depending on the wind, sometimes you’d see it tick up to +6. It really depends on how the guys finishing later are scoring.
The Afternoon Sweat
This is the key part for me. Watching the live leaderboard as the last few groups play their final holes. You’re constantly doing the math in your head. Okay, this guy’s on the 17th tee at +5. He needs to par in. This other guy is +6 on the 18th fairway, needs a birdie. You see who’s inside the number, who’s right on the edge, who’s just outside. That’s where the real-time projection gets most accurate, just before it’s official.
Finalizing the Number
I kept refreshing my main leaderboard source. You wait until that very last group finishes their 18th hole for Round 2. Once all scores are in, the organizers make it official. They confirm the exact score that the top 60 players (and ties) finished at or better than. For 2024, I watched it settle, and compared it to the +5 or +6 projections I’d been seeing most of Friday afternoon. It’s always satisfying to see how close the educated guesses were.
So yeah, that was my process. Just a mix of checking scores, looking up what the experts were predicting, and then watching the live action down the stretch on Friday. It’s a fun little side drama to the main event.
