Playoff Formats for Golf's Four Men's Major Championships

All major championships have unique, great moments and traditions. Many of the most memorable majors are those that hadn't concluded after 4 full rounds of golf and demanded extra holes in the form of a playoff. However, it's tough to remember which major follows what playoff format. To make it easy, we thought we'd lay out each major and the playoff structure that they follow: PGA Championship All players that are tied at the PGA Championship will play a 3-hole playoff aggregate stroke play. If players are still tied after those 3 holes, then they will continue playing hole-by-hole in a stroke-play (sudden death) format until there is a winner. The format has been in place since 2000. At this year's PGA Championship, in the event of a tie for first place after 72 holes, there will be a three-hole aggregate score playoff on hole Nos. 16, 17 and 18. If still tied, there will be a hole-by-hole playoff on hole 18, 16, 17 and 18 repeated. Open Championship Similar to the PGA Championship, at the Open Championship, any golfers that are tied for the lead at the end of regulation will play a four hole stroke-play playoff. Whoever has the lowest aggregated score on those four holes will be determined the winner. In the event that players are still tied after the four-hole playoff, they will continue to play in a hole-by-hole sudden death (stroke-play) format until someone eventually wins a hole. The Masters A fairly simple structure here: any players that share the lead after 72 holes will continue playing in a stroke-play sudden death format. They will alternate between playing the 18th and 10th hole until a winner emerges. Although these are two great holes (on an amazing course), it’s somewhat of boring playoff structure. U.S. Open The U.S. Open uses a two-hole aggregate playoff to determine its champion. In this format, if two or more players are tied after 72 holes of regulation, they will compete over two additional holes with the player producing the lowest total score winning. If players are still tied, sudden death is used.