Playoffs

If you are running a tournament, it is very important to define the way that ties will be broken before the tournament begins. If you are going to have a playoff, define if it is sudden-death, a few holes, or an 18-hole playoff like we will be seeing today. If you are going to use a countback on the scorecard, define it in advance. If it is sudden-death or a 3 or 4 hole playoff, you should state which holes will be used.  If you don’t define things in advance, someone will surely accuse you of favoring one player over another.

In match play, it should be defined that the match will be extended until it is decided. An extension of a match is still the same round, while a playoff in stroke play is a new round. The important distinction is that in stroke play, a player may change clubs before the playoff or practice. In match play, an extension of the match means that the player may not do change clubs or go to the driving range to hit balls.  When the match is extended, it isn’t required that you go back to the first hole.  The US Amateur frequently changes which holes are used after a particular round of matches to allow better TV coverage.  For example, at Pumpkin Ridge when Tiger won his final US Amateur, the first few rounds the matches continued to the first hole.  Later in the week, it was changed to be the 9th hole as that is where the first stationary camera was located.

I’m really looking forward to today’s playoff. Rocco Mediate grew up in Greensburg, PA and played a lot of his golf at Hannastown Golf Club where I was a member during my 5 years in Pittsburgh. His father and others are still members. I’m sure everyone there is pulling for him today. Best of luck Rocco.