Sudden Death
Sudden death is the most common playoff format. The tied participants play one extra hole at a time, with those still tied for the lowest score moving on to the next hole until a winner has been determined. All regular PGA Tour and European Tour tournaments use this system, as does the Masters Tournament. The PGA Championship also used the sudden death format from 1977 to 1999.
Many supporters, including veteran golfer Kenny Perry, support this type of play, feeling that it is best to let momentum decide the match. Tiger Woods, when interviewed immediately after his 2008 U.S. Open victory at Torry Pines, stated that "as a player who's playing well, you want to go more holes. The better player usually wins in more holes. That's how I've always approached it. The more holes you give me, if I'm playing well, I want more holes. Not just one hole, or even three." Others, such as professional golfer Chris DiMarco, claim that it is not fair to gruel through 72 holes and lose the tournament on one bad swing in sudden death.
Read more about this topic: Playoff (golf)
Famous quotes containing the words sudden and/or death:
“With sudden roar and aged pine-tree falls,—
One crash, the death-hymn of the perfect tree,
Declares the close of its green century.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“half-way up the hill, I see the Past
Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,—
A city in the twilight dim and vast,
With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights,—
And hear above me on the autumnal blast
The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)