Most weeks, when PGA Tour players miss the cut, they don't get paid. Plain and simple. Players earn their keep on the PGA Tour, and, aside from the few PGA Tour events that do not have a cut, a Tour pro must get past the 36-hole cut to get paid for the week.
However, there are a few official PGA Tour events in which players get paid even if they miss the cut.
At the Masters, the players who miss the 36-hole cut are paid. In 2023, every professional who missed the cut was paid $10,000.
At the U.S. Open, the professionals who miss the 36-hole cut are also paid. In 2023, those professionals who missed the cut were paid $10,000.
At the British Open Championship, the players who miss the 36-hole cut are also paid, but they're paid on a sliding scale. The first 10 professionals (and ties) to miss the cut earned $7,200, while the next 20 professional golfers and ties got $5,750 and the remaining professional golfers took home $4,850.
At the PGA Championship, the players who miss the 36-hole cut (usually the PGA of America professionals all lumped in there) each earn $3,200.
Even at The Players Championship, though, the PGA Tour does not pay qualifying players if they miss the cut. The whole purse is only distributed to players who get to the weekend.
Of course, there are also PGA Tour events with no cut, and every player completing the tournament gets paid for finishing it.
