The Open playoff: What happens if we’re tied after 72? (And why it will be different at Portrush)

The Open Championship playoff format will be slightly tweaked this year. Allow us to explain…

Such are the fine margins at the top end of the game that often 72 holes aren’t enough to determine a winner.  With that in mind, what is the Open Championship playoff format?

Not all the major playoffs are the same. The Masters – as we found out with Rory McIlroy this year – is a sudden-death playoff, while the PGA Championship has a three-hole aggregrate playoff.

The US Open famously used to be an 18-hole playoff on the Monday, but that has since been reduced to a two-hole shootout immediately following the conclusion of regulation play.

But what about golf’s oldest major? Before we get to that…

A brief history of Open Championship playoffs

The Open has gone to extra holes on 21 occasions in its storied history – the last of which was in 2015 when Zach Johnson edged out Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman to become a two-time major champion.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given how many times the Home of Golf has hosted the competition, the most playoffs have come at St Andrews.

Only three players have played in more than one Open playoff. Harry Vardon was triumphant in both of his, while Ernie Els and Tom Watson each won one and lost one.

We also had to wait until 1989 for the first playoff to feature more than two players, while the 2002 playoff holds the record for the most with four.

Finally, only once has The Open gone to extra holes two years in a row – in 1998 and 1999.

Notable years that The Open was won via a playoff include 1970, when Doug Sanders missed a three-foot putt to win at the 72nd before going on to lose to Jack Nicklaus; 1989, when Greg Norman shot a course-record 64 to get into The Open’s first ever four-hole playoff only to fluff his lines when it mattered; and 1999, when Jean van de Velde blew a three-shot lead on the 72nd hole to allow Justin Leonard and eventual champion Paul Lawrie in.

And who can forget 2009, when Tom Watson had an eight-foot putt to win the Claret Jug at the age of 59? (We don’t want to talk about it.)

Here is a chronological list of every Open playoff…

What is the Open Championship playoff format?

As has been the case since that fateful week in 1989, The Open administers a four-hole aggregate playoff in the event of a tie.  

Any players still level after those four holes will continue in a sudden-death playoff until the Champion Golfer is found.

Why will 2025 be different?

If extra holes are required to decide the 153rd Open Championship, it will be three-hole playoff at Royal Portrush.

Why? It’s simple, really. The layout of the Dunluce course.

The only realistic loop without too much moving around of players, spectators and TV crews, is to play the 1st, 13th and 18th, as you can see above.

Shame they can’t finish it on the 5th, really. Imagine winning the Claret Jug on one of the most spectacular greens in major championship golf…

• An official (and unofficial) record of every hole-in-one in Open Championship history

• A full history for The Open prize money and how much it’s changed over the years