A lot has been made of the recent announcements by the PGA Tour, with no-cut, limited-field events coming into play for 2024. This Designated Event Model will see tournaments have reduced fields of between 70 to 80 players with no cut, which PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, is confident will offer stellar tournaments and improve the quality of the full-field competitions.
Obviously, with a lot being made about how LIV Golf offers limited fields with no cuts, it has drawn a fair amount of criticism, with DP World Tour player, Eddie Pepperell, stating that LIV Golf and PGA Tour events being played without a cut is one of the “worst things to happen to the game in the last 12 months.”
Many in the sport have given their thoughts and now, at The 2023 Masters, Tiger Woods, who in fact hosts a tournament on the PGA Tour circuit, has said that he is "pushing for my event to have a cut."
Tiger, who has the longest streak of consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour with 142, has always been proud of that record but, under the new Designated Event Model, the Genesis Invitational would become one of the events with no cut.
Speaking on Tuesday at Augusta National, Tiger stated that: "There's still some ongoing discussions about some of the designated events and whether or not we're going to have cuts going forward. I certainly am pushing for my event to have a cut."
Another competition that would see no cuts is the Memorial Tournament, which is hosted by 18-time Major winner, Jack Nicklaus. According to Tiger, both he and Jack "are still in discussions with Jay (Monahan) and the board and the Tour and the rest of the guys," about the recent announcement.
Within the press conference, Tiger added: "I still think that there needs to be a penalty for not playing well and, to have that -- every event shouldn't be always guaranteed 72 holes. I think that there should be a cut there. But we are trying to figure that out. And you know, what designated events those are going to be, how many are there going to be, that's still ongoing. But that conversation is still being had."
In 2022, Tiger returned to Augusta National for the first time in over a year after his serious car crash almost caused his right leg to be amputated. Amazing though, at the event, he made the cut and was even inside the top-10 after the first day.
Such was the achievement of making the weekend, the five-time Green Jacket winner said on Tuesday: “I didn't win the tournament, but for me to be able to come back and play was a small victory in itself."
