Xander Schauffele stood over an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at the North Course at Torrey Pines on Friday afternoon with an opportunity to make the weekend and extend the PGA Tour’s longest active streak of made cuts. Schauffele’s birdie slid by on the right side, and with it, his streak — the fifth-longest in PGA Tour history — came to an end.
Schauffele had reached the weekend in 72 consecutive tournaments, but it would not be 73.
The San Diego native ultimately took missing the cut in stride, applying his typical dry humor to the situation.
“It’s going to be nice to have the weekend off,” he joked. “Going to go home and relax and regroup. …
“Obviously, I don’t like missing cuts; I think my record proves that. But it’s actually kind of nice, to be honest, if I was going to pick a spot. I get to hang out with my family. If I miss the cut in Charlotte or somewhere, I would just be sitting in a hotel room by myself. I have the comfort of my family here to hang out. You know what, all said and done, it’s probably the best place to miss it.”
Schauffele had reached the weekend in every event he played since the 2022 Masters, a remarkable achievement that highlighted his consistency and ability to grind out rounds even without his best. That is what made this week so surprising, especially playing close to home at a course he’s extremely familiar with.
When asked what he felt went wrong for him this week, Schauffele pointed to his driver and noted that he made some last-minute tweaks that left him uncomfortable off the tee — critical to success at Torrey Pines.
“Just some driver stuff — driver, shaft, trying to get the combination right,” Schauffele said. “I don’t like switching stuff, and I switched, and then when you switch back, things kind of feel weird. You start swinging to fit the club, and if kind of affects like everything down the bag. So, not a great place to do it.”
Schauffele will have Saturday and Sunday to decompress at home, knowing exactly where to focus his energy after a disappointing week. He noted that he’s not typically a tinkerer, and while he was having good range sessions, he was struggling to carry that same confidence over into tournament play.
Dialing in the driver and getting comfortable with what’s in the bag will be his top priority as he looks to start a new made cut streak on Tour.
The new active cut streak leader will come as no surprise to golf fans as world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has played the weekend in 65 consecutive starts. Given he hasn’t finished outside the top 25 in an event since 2024, Scheffler appears poised to push past Schauffele and Dow Finsterwald’s spot at No. 5 all-time with 72 straight made cuts this year.
After that, it’s four legends that Scheffler will be trying to track down on the all-time cut streak list: Hale Irwin (86), Jack Nicklaus (105), Byron Nelson (113) and Tiger Woods (142). If Scheffler plays 20 tournaments per year, he’ll need to make the cut in every event through the 2030 season to catch Woods at the top.