Cameron Smith tees off at the 2022 Players Championship on Monday.
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Whatever the 2022 Players Championship has lacked in drama over the last few days, it appears to be making up for it with its Monday finish, where nearly two dozen players remained within striking distance as the leaders made the turn in the final round.
So what happens if there’s a tie at the end of regulation? The answer: a playoff would commence for the biggest winner’s check in the game. While golf fans would salivate at the idea of the tournament’s former playoff format, a sudden-death showcase on No. 17, in 2014, the new format became a three-hole aggregate. So players would head back out to play Nos. 16-18, with the lowest cumulative score taking the title.
If the players remain tied after the three-hole aggregate, sudden death reemerges, starting on No. 17, then moving to No. 18, 16, 17, and back to 18 until a winner is finally crowned.
The 17th and 18th holes have been playing especially tough this weekend, and all three aggregate holes include dangerous water and risk-reward opportunities: potential eagle at the reachable par-5 16th, potential disaster at the iconic par-3 17th, and trouble seemingly everywhere on the grueling 18th.
There has only been one playoff under the most recent format: Rickie Fowler’s win in 2015, when he memorably defeated Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner to claim the biggest victory of his career. Kisner and Fowler were tied after the aggregate holes, and Fowler birdied the 17th in sudden death to dispatch Kisner.
As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Issue, which debuted in February 2018. Her original interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.