Schauffele extends incredible cut streak as defending champ avoids early PGA Championship exit

Defending champion Xander Schauffele extended his cut streak at the 2025 PGA Championship.

Xander Schauffele narrowly avoided his first missed cut in more than three years at this week’s PGA Championship, extending his streak to 64 consecutive made cuts across all events – and dodging an unwanted record in the process.

The defending champion’s incredible run dates back to the 2022 Masters but looked like it was ending for long periods at Quail Hollow as the American struggled to find his A-game.

Schauffele shot a one-over 72 in the opening round and found himself three over for the tournament after nine holes on Friday. But he mixed three birdies and a bogey on the back nine to finish level par for the day and one-over for the tournament to make the cut in Charlotte on the number.

Schauffele’s three-year run has seen him win five times, including the 2024 PGA and Open Championships, and record 13 other top-five finishes.

The American has the longest active streak in golf and the second longest ever – behind, you guessed it, Tiger Woods. But Schauffele still has a long way to go before challenging Woods’ record: an incredible 142 consecutive cuts made from 1998 to 2005. That run began at the Buick Invitational and ended when Woods missed the weekend by one stroke at the 2005 EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

The next best active streak belongs to World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, who has made 54 consecutive cuts.

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For Schauffele, making the weekend means the 31-year-old avoids the unwanted record of missing the cut as the reigning champion. The last man to go home early while defending the Wanamaker Trophy was Jimmy Walker in 2016.

In the last 25 years, six defending champions have failed to make the cut, with three others unable to play or withdrawing, as you can see in our full list below. Tiger Woods is the only man to successfully defend the title since the tournament changed from matchplay to strokeplay in 1958. He did it in 2000 and, most recently, 2007.

While Schauffele’s cut streak extended, another impressive run ended at Quail Hollow on Friday as Hideki Matsuyama failed to make a major weekend for the first time since the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. The Japanese star’s run of playing all 72 holes in the grand slam events stood at 19 straight heading to Charlotte, but he couldn’t extend that to 20 after rounds of 72-72 to finish three-over.

How the last 25 PGA Championship winners have fared in their defence