Most of LIV Golf's Players Made the Cut at the PGA Championship

Eleven of the 16 who began Thursday at Oak Hill will be back Saturday, with Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka on the first page of the leaderboard.
Most of LIV Golf's Players Made the Cut at the PGA Championship
Most of LIV Golf's Players Made the Cut at the PGA Championship /

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The majority of the LIV Golf contingent at the PGA Championship will be around to play all 72 holes.

Eleven of LIV's 16 players who began the event made the 36-hole cut, with Bryson DeChambeau the highest on the leaderboard at 3 under, two shots off the lead. Brooks Koepka is one shot back at 2 under.

Phil Mickelson, returning for his first PGA Championship since winning in 2021 at Kiawah, made the cut on the number at 5 over after a Friday round of 2-over 72.

"The first two days I've played terrible. I've driven it poorly. I've not felt good with the putter. I haven't chipped great. My irons have been average," Mickelson said. "It makes me optimistic that I still made the cut playing as poorly as I did, and I think if I can get it turned around, I can make a run."

A total of 76 players qualified for the final two rounds.

LIV's best player so far this year is going home. Talor Gooch had won two events on the season and leads the league's points and money lists, but shot 76-74 at Oak Hill to miss the cut by five shots and in the process also miss the U.S. Open.

Brendan Steele saw his weekend hopes dashed late Friday with a bogey at the par-4 9th hole (his last). He pulled his drive into the left rough, hit the next shot just 52 yards, then missed a 14-footer for par to miss the cut by a shot.

Joaquin Niemann double bogeyed the 7th hole (his 16th) and bogeyed the 9th (his last) to miss the cut by three shots at 8 over.  

Sihwan Kim is the most surprising LIV member to make the weekend, having finished no better than 43rd in six starts on his home tour yet rallying Friday for a solid 68 to comfortably make the cut at 3 over.

Here is the complete LIV leaderboard:

LIV Golfers at the PGA Championship

T4. Bryson DeChambeau 66-71 -3
T6. Brooks Koepka 72-66 -2
T19. Mito Pereira 72-69 +1
T19. Dustin Johnson 67-74 +1
T19. Harold Varner III 70-71 +1
T35. Patrick Reed 72-71 +3
T35. Sihwan Kim 75-68 +3
T48. Dean Burmester 73-71 +4
T48. Cameron Smith 72-72 +4
T59. Phil Mickelson 73-72 +5
T59. Thomas Pieters 69-76 +5

The following players missed the cut:
T77. Brendan Steele 72-74 +6
T98. Joaquin Niemann 74-74 +8
T109. Anirban Lahiri 74-73 +9
T120. Talor Gooch 76-74 +10
T122. Abraham Ancer 76-75 +11


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John Schwarb
JOHN SCHWARB

John Schwarb is a senior editor for Sports Illustrated covering golf. Prior to joining SI in March 2022, he worked for ESPN.com, PGATour.com, Tampa Bay Times and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is the author of The Little 500: The Story of the World's Greatest College Weekend. A member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Schwarb has a bachelor's in journalism from Indiana University.