If Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson can’t settle their duel for the Claret Jug in 72 holes, they’ll play four more — at least — on Sunday evening at Royal Troon.
British Open playoff format and rules: 4-hole aggregate playoff could decide championship
The way Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson are exchanging birdies, The Open could be headed for a second straight playoff.
Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports
The Open is golf’s oldest major, and it’s ruffled through a couple of playoff formats during its now 145-year history. Before 1964, a 72-hole tie demanded a 36-hole playoff, which was an incredibly long slog. Then the R&A moved to a more straightforward 18-hole playoff, but that ended in 1986.
The current Open playoff format is a four-hole aggregate system, in which the tied golfers re-play the course’s 1st, 2nd, 17th and 18th holes. The lowest four-hole score wins, and it becomes sudden death if the players are still even after playing the initial four-hole playoff.
It’s an exciting way to decide a championship, and it has recent precedent at Troon. When The Open last visited this Scotland course in 2004, it went to a four-hole playoff, with Todd Hamilton beating Ernie Els by a stroke to win his first and still only major. Hamilton and Els each parred the 1st and 2nd in that playoff, but Hamilton pulled ahead by parring the 17th when Els bogeyed it. Hamilton held on to win on the 18th green, becoming one of The Open’s more improbable champions.
Last year’s Open at St. Andrews also went to a playoff. Zach Johnson beat Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in that four-hole aggregate. If history repeats itself this year, though, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Mickelson and Stenson being involved. The two have run away from the rest of the field on the leaderboard, starting the day with a five-shot lead and then extending it with one of the more incredible opening nine shows that we’ve seen.
The Open is the only major to structure its playoff this way. The U.S. Open runs a full 18-hole playoff on the day after the 72-hole portion of the championship ends, clinging to that archaic and annoying way to break a tie. The PGA Championship runs a similar aggregate playoff, but only over three holes. The Masters goes straight to sudden death in any playoff, with players alternating between the 18th and 10th holes until someone gets a low score and puts on the green jacket.
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