2021 Open Championship playoff format: How an Open Championship playoff works

While playoffs to decide the Champion Golfer of the Year are rare, they do happen. In fact, there have been a total of 21 playoffs in the Open Championship’s history, the most recent of which was in 2015, when Zach Johnson beat Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

In 2015, Johnson, Oosthuizen and Leishman played four extra holes in which their aggregate score determined the winner. Oosthuizen and Leishman are considered co- runners-up, regardless of their aggregate score difference. But in 2019, the R&A — the governing body for golf outside the U.S., and the organization responsible for running the Open Championship — decided to change the Open Championship playoff format. Past formats included 36 holes (!), which was changed to 18 holes in 1964. The four-hole aggregate rule came into play in 1985.

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So what is the Open Championship playoff format now?

In 2019, the R&A announced that if needed, the Open Championship playoff format at Royal Portrush would be a three-hole aggregate, instead of the four-hole aggregate that was instituted in 1985. If the competitors are still tied after three holes, they go to sudden death.

Each of the major championships has its own rules regarding playoffs. At the Masters, it’s sudden death. At the PGA Championship, it’s a three-hole aggregate, and at the U.S. Open, it’s a two-hole aggregate.

The three holes that would be employed for a playoff at Royal St. George’s have yet to be announced.