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.
Players in the playoff keep competing one hole at a time, trying to make the lowest score possible. The draw for the playoff is no longer a random number draw out of a hat. 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 and lock up a share of second-place money. 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. The player with the lowest total score wins. If there are ties, the players then go to sudden-death to determine a champion.
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.
The major championships all have unique playoff formats ranging from sudden-death playoffs to three-hole, aggregate-score playoffs.
So, here's a look at the sudden-death playoff holes for each PGA Tour-run stroke-play event.
PGA Tour playoff holes, by event
- Sanderson Farms Championship - 18, 18, 1, 18
- Fortinet Championship - 18, 18, 10, 11, 18
- Shriners Hospitals Open in Vegas - 18, 18, 17, 18
- Zozo Championship - 18 over and over
- Bermuda Championship - 18, 16, 17, 18
- Mayakoba Golf Classic - 18, 18, 10, 18, 10
- The RSM Classic - 18, 18, 17, 18
- The Sentry - 18 over and over
- Sony Open in Hawaii - 18, 18, 17, 18, 10, 17, 18
- The American Express - 18, 18, 10, 18, 10, 18
- Farmers Insurance Open - 18 (South Course)
- Waste Management Phoenix Open - 18, 18, 10, 17, 18
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - 18, 18, 17 in a loop
- Genesis Invitational - 18, 18, 10, 14, 18
- Puerto Rico Open - 18 over and over
- Cognizant Classic - 18, 18, 17, 18
- Arnold Palmer Invitational - 18, 18, 16, 17
- The Players - 3-hole aggregate (16-18), then 17, 18
- Valspar Championship - 18, 18, 16, 17, 18
- Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship - 18, 18, 9, 18
- Valero Texas Open - 18, 18, 17, 18
- RBC Heritage - 18, 17, 18
- Zurich Classic of New Orleans - 18, 18, 9, 18
- Wells Fargo Championship - 18, 18, 11, 18
- AT&T Byron Nelson - 18, 18, 17, 18, 18
- Charles Schwab Challenge - 18, 16, 17, 18
- Rocket Mortgage Classic - 18, 18, 15, 15
- the Memorial Tournament - 18, 18, 10, 14
- RBC Canadian Open - 18, 18, 17, 18
- Travelers Championship - 18, 18, 17, 18
- Barracuda Championship - 18 over and over
- John Deere Classic - 18, 18, 16, 17, 18
- Barbasol Championship - 18, 18, 17, 18
- 3M Open - 18, 18, 17, 18
- Wyndham Championship - 18, 18, 10, 18, 10, 18
- FedEx St. Jude Championship - 18, 18, 12, 18
- BMW Championship - 18, 18, 17, 18, 18, 17
- Tour Championship - 18, 18, 15, 16, 17, 18
