If multiple golfers remain tied at the end of the PGA Championship’s 72 regulation holes, they’ll move to a three-hole aggregate playoff with the Wanamaker Trophy on the line.
PGA Championship playoff format and rules: 3-hole aggregate tiebreaker in play at Baltusrol
How the PGA Championship would be decided in a playoff.
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Every major has a different way of hashing out ties. The U.S. Open’s next-day 18-hole playoff is a real drag, but the other three offer more time-efficient, manageable solutions for the TV audience. The Masters puts on sudden-death extra holes, rotating between the 18th and 10th holes. The British Open uses a four-hole aggregate playoff, with the lowest score winning. The PGA does the same but over three holes, making it a sort of middle ground between the approaches of The Masters and The Open. If the score stays tied beyond 75 holes, the PGA transitions to sudden death.
The PGA Championship has had 13 playoffs since the tournament moved to stroke play in 1958. The last came in 2011, when Keegan Bradley beat Jason Dufner at the Atlanta Athletic Club. The year before, Martin Kaymer edged Bubba Watson in a playoff at Whistling Straits. The tournament’s only other appearance at this year’s venue, Baltusrol, didn’t require a playoff, with Phil Mickelson winning in regulation but on a Monday afternoon.
The tournament has been close all the way through, and there’s real potential these rules will come into play. Now whether there’s enough daylight to get it in after this manic 36-hole day? That’s a separate, more dicey question.
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