What is the PGA Championship playoff format?
PGA Championship

What is the PGA Championship playoff format?

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There's a chance the PGA Championship goes to a playoff, and it might mean that we finish near the darkness at Oak Hill Country Club near Rochester, New York, using the PGA Championship playoff format.

What is the PGA Championship playoff format?

The PGA Championship playoff format isn't sudden death. Rather, it's a three-hole aggregate-score playoff, meaning that the competitors will play out the three holes and the lowest combined score will win the Wanamaker Trophy.

At Oak Hill, the playoff holes are Nos. 16, 17 and 18. If, after the three holes are played, any players are tied for the lead, then they'll transition to a sudden-death playoff to determine the PGA Championship.

The PGA Championship has had 14 playoffs since the tournament moved to stroke play in 1958. Since moving to the three-hole aggregate-score format, there have been five playoffs, including most recently in 2022 at Southern Hills when Justin Thomas won his second PGA Championship in a playoff over Will Zalatoris.

Three-hole playoffs in PGA Championship history

  • 2012, Justin Thomas def. Will Zalatoris at Southern Hills
  • 2011, Keegan Bradley def. Jason Dufner at Atlanta Athletic Club
  • 2010, Martin Kaymer def. Bubba Watson at Whistling Straits
  • 2004, Vijay Singh def. Chris DiMarco, Justin Leonard at Whistling Straits
  • 2000, Tiger Woods def. Bob May, Vahalla Golf Club

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