What is the US Open playoff format?

The US Open is renowned for its difficulty more than any of the other major championships, and with that comes the real possibility of a playoff.

Extra holes might have to be played to determine the winner of the historic national championship, but what is the playoff format, should it be needed?

With ‘golf’s toughest test’ proving such a slog, players will be glad to know the last time a playoff was needed in the US Open was 2008.

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That proved a memorable battle between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines, becoming one of 33 in the tournament’s 128-year history.

The USGA previously used an 18-hole playoff the following day, but the 2008 US Open was the last time that playoff format featured, so what does it look like now?

US Open playoff format

If two or more players are tied for the lead after 72 holes on Sunday, a two-hole, aggregate score playoff will be used to decide the new US Open champion.

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The USGA opted to scrap the previous format in 2018 and move to a much quicker playoff that would determine the winner based on their combined score over two holes.

In the event of a tie, players will head for the first and 18th holes to battle it out for the US Open, but if they still cannot be separated, a sudden-death format is introduced.

In this case, the players involved will have a straight shootout until someone prevails, with the first player to ‘win’ a hole named the victor of the coveted prize.

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To decide the order of play, numbers will be drawn out of a hat on the tee of the first playoff hole.

Since the change to the current format, the US Open has not been decided by a playoff, while it is
the only major to use this setup.

The Masters heads straight to sudden death, the PGA Championship uses a three-hole playoff, and the Open Championship uses four extra holes.