Playoff
A playoff in golf is a tie-breaker: when two or more players finish level at the end of a competition, they play extra holes until one comes out ahead and is declared the winner.
What is a playoff in golf?
Golf tournaments are usually decided by the lowest score. In stroke play, every shot counts across four rounds (72 holes at the professional level), and the player with the fewest strokes wins. Large fields and four days of golf often produce a tie at the top, and a tournament still needs a single champion.
A playoff settles that tie. It involves only the players tied for the lead, and it starts once regulation play has finished. The rest of the field is done, and the leaders keep going. Most professional playoffs are held straight after the final round on the same day, so a winner is known by Sunday evening.
The idea is simple, but the details vary. The governing bodies, the USGA and the R&A, let each tournament committee decide which holes are used and how many. That is why the playoff at the Masters looks different from the one at the U.S. Open.
How a golf playoff works
When a playoff begins, the tied players return to a pre-selected hole, usually the 18th, since the crowds and cameras are already there. They play as a single group, and from that point, the format decides how a winner is found.
If nobody separates from the pack, play continues to the next designated hole in the rotation, and then to the one after that, until the tie is broken. In a sudden-death format, there is no cap. The players go as long as it takes.
Sudden death vs. aggregate playoffs
Golf uses two main playoff formats, and they work in opposite ways. Knowing the difference explains almost every playoff a fan will watch.
In sudden death, players compete one hole at a time. Whoever posts the lowest score on a hole while the others fail to match it wins on the spot. This is the most common format in professional golf, and it is used in every regular PGA Tour event. Sudden death produces immediate tension, because any hole can end the tournament.
An aggregate playoff runs over a set number of holes, and the scores are added up. The lowest combined total wins. If players are still level after those holes, the playoff usually moves to sudden death. The aggregate format is older, and because it spans several holes, a single poor swing does not automatically end a player’s chances.
| Feature | Sudden death | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|
| How a winner is decided | First player to win a single hole outright | Lowest total score over a set number of holes |
| Number of holes | Open-ended, one at a time | Fixed (two, three or four holes) |
| Where it is used | Regular PGA Tour events, the Masters | U.S. Open, PGA Championship, The Open |
| Character | Fast, decided on one hole | Spans several holes |
Playoff formats in the four men’s majors
Each of the four men’s majors breaks a tie its own way, which is a common source of confusion. Here is the current format for each.
| Major | Playoff format |
|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | Sudden death, starting on the 18th hole, then the 10th |
| U.S. Open | Two-hole aggregate, then sudden death |
| PGA Championship | Three-hole aggregate, then sudden death |
| The Open Championship | Four-hole aggregate, then sudden death |
These formats have shifted over the years. The U.S. Open used an 18-hole playoff, held the next day, until 2018, when it moved to the current two-hole aggregate. The last of those next-day rounds came in 2008, when Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate stayed tied after 18 extra holes at Torrey Pines, and Woods won on the 19th. The most recent Masters playoff was in 2025, when Rory McIlroy beat Justin Rose on the first extra hole to complete the career Grand Slam.
Playoffs in match play
Stroke play and match play handle ties differently. Match play scores by holes won rather than total strokes, so not every tie leads to extra holes.
In individual match play, a tie after 18 holes can go to extra holes until one player wins a hole. Team events often work another way. At the Ryder Cup, a match level after 18 holes ends all square, and each side takes half a point, with no extra holes played. If the overall contest finishes 14-14, the team already holding the cup keeps it.
How ties are broken in club and amateur golf
Weekend and club competitions rarely stage a playoff, since players are not always available to keep going and course etiquette makes extra holes impractical. Most rely on a scorecard countback instead.
A countback compares players’ scores over the closing holes to break the tie. The USGA method looks at the last 18 holes, then the last 9, then the last 6, then the last 3, and finally the last hole, stopping as soon as one player comes out ahead. It is a quick way to separate tied cards without sending anyone back out.
Related Golf Terms
- Local rules — Course-specific rules supplementing the standard Rules of Golf.
- Grand slam — Winning all four professional major championships in a single year.
- FedEx Cup — The PGA Tour’s season-long points competition and playoff series.
- Rules official — An on-course authority who interprets and applies the rules.
- Gallery — The crowd of spectators watching a tournament.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many holes is a golf playoff?
It depends on the format. Sudden death has no fixed length and continues hole by hole until someone wins one. Aggregate playoffs use a set number, commonly two, three, or four holes, before any sudden death.
What is the most common playoff format?
Sudden death. It is used in all regular PGA Tour events and at the Masters, and it decides most professional ties.
What happens if players are still tied after an aggregate playoff?
The playoff normally switches to sudden death, and play continues hole by hole until one player wins a hole outright.
Do all ties in golf go to a playoff?
No. Professional stroke-play events use playoffs, but club and amateur competitions usually settle ties by scorecard countback, and some match-play events simply record a halved result.
Sources
- USGA. “Playoff in Stroke Play.” Rules of Handicapping.
https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/handicapping/roh/Content/rules/Committee%20Content/USGA/LG_R7l3.htm - PGA of America. “Playoff Formats for Golf’s Four Men’s Major Championships.”
https://www.pga.com/story/playoff-formats-for-golfs-four-mens-major-championships - PGA Tour. “What is the playoff format for the PGA Championship?”
https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/latest/2025/05/18/what-is-the-playoff-format-for-the-pga-championship-quail-hollow-club - Golf Digest. “PGA Championship playoff format.”
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/pga-championship-2020-tiebreaker-rules-playoff-aggregate-scoring-three-hole-playoff - ESPN. “What are PGA Tour playoff rules for tiebreakers?”
https://www.espn.com/golf/story//id/40467957/what-pga-tour-playoff-rules-tiebreakers - Wikipedia. “Playoff (golf).”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playoff(golf)
