Sudden Death (sport) - Golf

Golf

In individual match play, players level after the regulation 18 or 36 holes will play extra holes in sudden death. In team tournaments, players may gain half a point each for a tie rather than play sudden death; this is the case in the Ryder Cup, for example. In the Presidents Cup, there was provision for a single-player sudden death shootout if the entire competition ended in a tie. When this came to pass in 2003, the tiebreak was unfinished at dusk. There was no provision for an extra day's play, and both team captains agreed to declare the match tied and share the trophy.

Traditionally, professional stroke play golf tournaments ending in a tie were played off the next day with an eighteen-hole match. Modern considerations such as television coverage and the tight travel schedule of most leading golfers have led to this practice being almost entirely abandoned, and in all but the most important tournaments, the champion is determined by sudden death. All players tied after the completion of regulation play are taken to a predetermined hole, and then play it and others in order as needed. If more than two players are tied, each player who scores higher on a hole than the other competitors is immediately eliminated, and those still tied continue play until one remaining player has a lower score for a hole than any of the others remaining, and that player is declared the winner.

Of the four men's major championships, only The Masters uses a sudden-death playoff format, first used in 1979. The U.S. Open still uses an 18-hole playoff at stroke play on the day after the main tournament, with sudden-death if two (or more) contestants remain tied after 18 holes. First used in 1989, The Open Championship uses a four-hole total-stroke playoff, while the PGA Championship uses a three-hole total-stroke playoff, first used in 2000. The PGA Championship introduced the sudden-death playoff to the majors in 1977 and used it seven times through 1996. Sudden death is used if a tie exists at the end of the scheduled playoff.