Playoff (golf)

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A playoff in the sport of golf is how a tie is resolved at the end of a match or competition, often by means of an extra hole, or holes, being played until a winner emerges.^[1]

Playoffs are a standard occurrence in match play and professional stroke play tournaments to determine a winner in the event of a tie at the completion of normal play. There are two types of playoff that are used: aggregate playoff and sudden death. They are usually played directly after completion of the final round, with the exception of 18 hole aggregate playoffs which may be held the following day.

In many amateur stroke play tournaments, and particularly in club competitions, competitors may not be readily available and other methods are used to determine the winner, such as scorecard count-back, whereby the player with the lowest cumulative score over the last 18, 9, 6, 3 or 1 hole(s) is declared the winner.^[1][2]

In 1976, the Pepsi-Wilson Tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, set a record for the longest sudden-death playoff on any men's professional tour. It took Peter Thomson 14 holes to defeat Graham Marsh, Brian Jones and Shozo Miyamoto.^[3] This record still stands today.