And the current PGA Championship playoff format works like this:
- The playoff is three holes in length.
- It is aggregate stroke play (cumulative scoring, in other words);
- The golfer with the low total score after three holes wins the playoff and the tournament.
What is a playoff in golf?
Playoffs are a standard occurrence in match play and professional stroke play tournaments to determine a winner in the event of a tie at the completion of normal play. There are two types of playoff that are used: aggregate playoff and sudden death.
When are playoffs played in the PGA Tour?
They are usually played directly after completion of the final round, with the exception of 18 hole aggregate playoffs which may be held the following day.
What are the playoff holes at the Players Championship?
In The Players, there is a three-hole, aggregate-score playoff on holes 16, 17 and 18 at TPC Sawgrass' Players Stadium Course. The player with the lowest total score wins. If there are ties, the players then go to sudden-death to determine a champion.
How does the PGA Championship decide champion?
Once there is a hole where one player scores lower for that hole than any of the other remaining players, that low player is declared champion. In The Players, there is a three-hole, aggregate-score playoff on holes 16, 17 and 18 at TPC Sawgrass' Players Stadium Course.

How does PGA Championship playoff work?
In the PGA Championship, there is a three-hole playoff among any golfers tied for the 72-hole lead. At the end of the three holes, whoever has the lowest aggregate score is the winner. If there is still a tie after those holes, the golfers will move to sudden death until a golfer wins.
What is the PGA playoff format?
The PGA Championship playoff format is a three-hole, aggregate-score format, with holes 13, 17 and 18 played together by any qualifying players. The player with the lowest combined score on those three playoff holes wins.
How are playoff holes determined in PGA?
The playoff is scheduled for three holes, with aggregate score determining the winner after the third extra hole. If two or more golfers remain tied after three holes, those golfers continue playing sudden-death: one hole at a time, until one of them wins a hole outright.
What is a 3 hole aggregate playoff?
Each of the four major championships employ different rules when it comes to ties, and at the PGA Championship, ties are decided via a three-hole aggregate playoff. That means, whoever is tied at the end of regulation play will play three pre-determined holes, and the player with the lowest score will be the winner.
Who goes first in a golf playoff?
After the first hole, the honor of teeing off first goes to the player who had the best score on the preceding hole. If two players tied on a hole, the player who had the better score between them on the hole that came prior would have the honor.
What are the playoff holes in the PGA Championship?
At Southern Hills, the three playoff holes are the reachable par-5 13th, par-4 17th and tough par-4 18th. Competitors will play all three holes and the low total score wins. Those three holes are convenient to players and fans, as the 13th tee is near the 18th green.
What is the most sudden-death playoff holes in golf?
The longest ever sudden death playoff went to 11 holes. The Major Championships, however, historically used longer playoff formats, although the US Open is now the only event that calls for an 18 hole format*.
What is sudden-death in golf?
Sudden death is the most common playoff format in stroke play tournaments and even more so in match play tournaments. The tied participants play one extra hole at a time, with those still tied for the lowest score moving on to the next hole until a winner has been determined.
What happens if there is a tie in golf?
The golfers in question would play the 1st and the 18th after Sunday's play comes to an end and the lowest score over those two holes wins the championship. If there is still a tie, all remaining players will return to the 1st and 18th holes in a sudden-death rotation until a winner is finally revealed.
What does aggregate mean in golf?
In golf, the term aggregate has various meaning depending on how the word is being used. Aggregate can be referred to its score, which means the total score of the golfer in a tournament from multiple rounds of play. It also refers to the total score a team of golfers earn when playing together.
What is a playoff in golf?
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. A playoff in the sport of golf is how a tie is resolved at the end of a match or competition, often by means of an extra hole, or holes, being played until a winner emerges. Playoffs are a standard occurrence in match play and professional stroke play tournaments to determine a winner in ...
What is the oldest playoff format?
The aggregate playoff is the oldest playoff format in strokeplay tournaments, with the lowest cumulative score in a series of holes, most commonly three, four, or eighteen holes. This is widely considered to be the fairest way of deciding a winner, as one bad shot does not eliminate all chances of winning, and is used in the four men's major championships. One flaw of this system is shorter variants, used in two majors and The Players Championship, held immediately after the tournament, take longer to complete than sudden death, meaning that a tournament may risk not being over before sunset. In contrast, a full 18-hole playoff is held the next day. Should there still be a tie after the set number of holes, then sudden death is normally played.
What is sudden death in golf?
Sudden death is the most common playoff format in stroke play tournaments and even more so in match play tournaments. The tied participants play one extra hole at a time, with those still tied for the lowest score moving on to the next hole until a winner has been determined. All regular PGA Tour and European Tour tournaments use this system (except for The Players Championship starting in 2014), as does the Masters Tournament. The PGA Championship also used the sudden death format from 1977 to 1999. A player who wins in matchplay after n playoff holes is said to have won "at the (18+n) th hole" — or " (36+n) th hole" in the increasingly rare case of a 36-hole match.
What did Tiger Woods say about his 2008 victory at Torrey Pines?
Open victory at Torrey Pines, stated that "as a player who's playing well, you want to go more holes. The better player usually wins in more holes. That's how I've always approached it. The more holes you give me, if I'm playing well, I want more holes.
When did the Open Championship start?
The Open Championship was the first major tournament to adopt the shortened aggregate playoff system when a 4-hole playoff was introduced in 1985. However it was not invoked until Mark Calcavecchia, Greg Norman and Wayne Grady tied at Royal Troon in 1989. Calcavecchia came out on top to win his only major title.
Who won the longest sudden death playoff?
In 1976, the Pepsi-Wilson Tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, set a record for the longest sudden-death playoff on any men's professional tour. It took Peter Thomson 14 holes to defeat Graham Marsh, Brian Jones and Shozo Miyamoto. This record still stands today.
Did Calcavecchia win the PGA Championship?
Calcavecchia came out on top to win his only major title. Since 2000, the PGA Championship has made use of a 3-hole playoff, having previously used sudden death. Three-hole playoffs were expected to be used in the 2016 Summer Olympics if there were a tie in medal positions, but were not necessary.
What happens if you play three in a play-off?
For play-offs with more than two players, if two players get the same score and a third gets a worse score, then played three loses the play-off, and players 1 and two need to keep playing tie-breakers until someone gets a worse score.
What is a four ball golf team?
In team play , two or more players with play together as a team with the most common being a four-ball with a team of two players with only the lowest score of the partner’s counts on each hole.
What is stroke play?
The most common choice for professional events and amateur tournaments with all but one of the 50 (2020-2021) being stroke play. The winner has the lowest overall score, either for a single round or a number of rounds.
What happens if you win more holes than your opponent?
Win more holes than your opponent and you win the match to get a point. If your team gets more points, it wins the overall match and advances to the next round. During a match, you’ll see terms such as 2 up, 3 down, or all square. This is the current state of the match saying how many holes a player is up or down (or tied).
What does 4 and 3 mean in golf?
So 4&3 means a player was up 4 holes with 3 holes to play, thus ending the match since the opponent was mathematically eliminated. A score with just one number, 1 or 2 up, means that the match was won on the 18th hole. Matches can end in a tie — or be halved — and the one point up for grabs is split between the players.
What is the importance of match play?
One of the important things to emphasize about match play is that only winning the hole matters. The score it takes to win or lose the hole does not. In stroke play, making a double or triple bogey can take several holes to recover from.
How do you play stroke play?
In stroke play, it’s just you against the course. In match play, you face off against the course, but also an opponent. Instead of keeping score by adding up how many strokes you took during the round, you keep track of how many holes you won against your opponent. Win more holes than your opponent and you win the match to get a point.
What happens in the fourth round of stroke play?
The fourth round of stroke play will take place, at which point the individual national champion will be crowned. Also following the fourth round, the field will be cut to the top eight teams to move on to the match-play bracket, which will be seeded in order of finish in stroke play.
What does it mean when you have a big number on a golf hole?
In match play, a big number on a hole just means you’ve lost one hole and you can regain that point on the next hole. Because of the nature of the format, players who get into trouble off the tee will sometimes take more risky shots to get back into the hole.
When can a player concede a shot?
A player can concede a shot to their opponent, mostly when the ball is inside a foot or two of the cup. Players will sometimes concede some longer putts in the 3-4 foot range early in the match and then make them putt those same putts later on. This is meant to catch an opponent off guard and hopefully force a miscue.
Why do some tournaments have more thrilling playoffs than others?
In part, that's because some tournaments choose to vary the playoff holes while others tend to play the same hole over and over again , making a lengthy playoff boring. So, here's a look at the sudden-death ...
When is the 2021 golf playoff?
As of Feb. 22, 2021, the players tee off on the first playoff hole in the order in which they finished the 72-hole event. The first player in the house that gets in the playoff is the first to tee off, and so on. Any ties for the best score mean another hole for those players, and any playoff competitors that don't tie the low score are eliminated ...
How many holes does a PGA tournament have?
On the PGA Tour, about 10 tournaments each season are expected to end up in a tie after 72 holes, requiring a playoff to determine a winner. With the exception of The Players, the PGA Tour's playoff format is a classic, sudden-death format.
