We’ve got a mess at the top of the leaderboard coming down the stretch at The Open Championship. As many as six players have been tied for the lead on the back nine — including Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Tiger Woods — and it’s looking like we may need a playoff to decide things at Carnoustie.
British Open playoff format and rules: We’d get four extra holes to decide the winner at Carnoustie
We’ve got a mess at the top of the leaderboard down the stretch at Carnoustie. Here’s how we’ll settle it if it goes to extra holes.
Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images
If it happens, we’ll be in for some big-time dramatics. Where most pro tournaments opt for a sudden-death, extra-holes finale if needed, the R&A prefers a four-hole aggregate playoff for The Open Championship. Here at Carnoustie, we’ll go to the most difficult stretch of the course for the replay — 15, 16, 17, and 18. It provides us a second chance for someone to dunk one into Barry Burn at an inopportune time one one of the toughest finishing holes anywhere in golf.
The four-hole aggregate’s the favorite format for many — and it serves fans the best. You’ll get a chance for the storyline to develop a bit in the playoff, and it won’t be over in a flash. You won’t risk missing a deciding wayward shot because you had to run to pee.
Carnoustie’s become known for playoffs. Jean Van De Velde famously played himself into one with Paul Lawrie in 1999 here with his messy collapse on the 18th, and Padraig Harrington nipped Sergio Garcia here in 2007 for the Claret Jug in extra holes after Garcia couldn’t snake in a 10 footer on the 72nd hole for the title.
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