What happens if there’s a tie after 72 holes? PGA Championship playoff format explained

We’ve only gone to extra holes once in the last decade. But, just in case, what’s the PGA Championship playoff format?

Unlike the Masters, where Rory McIlroy sealed the Green Jacket and the career Grand Slam with victory over Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff, things are decided slightly differently if the leading players cannot be separated after Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship.

If required, those tied at the top after 72 holes will go head-to-head across three extra holes with the PGA Championship playoff format using an aggregate score to decide the winner.

If any players still cannot be separated after the first three holes, they will enter a sudden-death playoff.

The PGA Championship has been decided by a playoff 13 times in the event’s history, with five of those using the three-hole aggregate format. It was first used in 2000 when Tiger Woods defeated Bob May in an epic at Valhalla.

A playoff was last required at Southern Hills in 2022 when Justin Thomas beat Will Zalatoris. Before that, it had been 2011 when Keegan Bradley beat Jason Dufner, a year after Martin Kaymer had defeated Bubba Watson by the same method.

If we go to extra holes in 2025, the tied players would all head back to play the treacherous Green Mile again.

They’d face off across the par-4 16^th (529 yards), par-3 17^th (223 yards) and par-4 18^th (494 yards).

Of course, a hole number, par and yardage only tell a small part of the story, so read all about the Green Mile here.

But to give you an idea of how tough it is, when the PGA Championship last visited Quail Hollow in 2017 91 balls ended up in the water across the stretch. Only three players got through the holes unscathed and finished under par for the week. The other 153 players contributed 352 bogeys, 88 doubles and 12 triples or worse.

As tough as the holes are, the format is simple. Whichever player has the lowest combined score over the three holes will be crowned champion. If any of the players cannot be separated after the three holes, then things move into sudden-death hole-by-hole format, starting at the 18^th. If still tied, holes 16, 17 and 18 will be repeated until a winner is found.

How do they decide who gets the honor in the PGA Championship playoff?

It has nothing to do with who posts their clubhouse lead first or who has had the lowest round of the day. Instead, the players will all draw a number on the 16th tee, which will dictate the order. From there, the player who tees off first on the remaining two holes will be the player who posted the lowest score on the previous hole. If all, or more than one, players post the same low score, the honor will remain with whoever teed off on the previous hole.  

PGA Championship playoff history

A playoff has been required to decide the PGA Championship on 13 occasions since the tournament switched to a stroke-play event in 1958.

• 2022: Justin Thomas beat Will Zalatoris at Southern Hills
• 2011: Keegan Bradley beat Jason Dufner at Atlanta Athletic Club
• 2010: Martin Kaymer beat Bubba Watson at Whistling Straits
• 2004: Vijay Singh beat Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard at Whistling Straits
• 2000: Tiger Woods beat Bob May at Valhalla
• 1996: Mark Brooks beat Kenny Perry at Valhalla
• 1993: Paul Azinger beat Greg Norman at Inverness Club
• 1987: Larry Nelson beat Lanny Wadkins at PGA National
• 1979: David Graham beat Ben Crenshaw at Oakland Hills
• 1978: John Mahaffey beat Jerry Pate and Tom Watson at Oakmont
• 1977: Lanny Wadkins beat Gene Littler at Pebble Beach
• 1967: Don January beat Don Massengale at Columbine
• 1961: Jerry Barber beat Don January at Olympia Fields

Do all of the majors have the same playoff format?

No. The Masters uses a sudden death format alternating between the 18th and 10th holes. The US Open replaced the 18-hole Monday playoff with a two-hole aggregate playoff in 2018. And The Open uses a four-hole aggregate playoff.