Occasionally, The Masters will go into a sudden-death playoff. What does that entail? What should we expect if we need a 73rd hole to jacket a champion?
On 16 occasions in the 80 playings of The Masters Tournament to date, 72 holes was not enough to decide a champion. Sometimes a 73rd or even a 74th hole was necessary to yield a victor in the form of a Green Jacket.
The most recent playoff in Masters history came in 2013 when Australia’s Adam Scott bested Argentina’s Angel Cabrera to win the Green Jacket at -9 under par. Should the 2017 Masters need more holes, how does that all shake out at Augusta National?
The sudden-death playoff has been part of The Masters since 1976. Initially, the playoff would begin on the 10th hole, as that was where the television coverage began on the first hole of the back nine.
However since 2004, the first hole of sudden-death is the 18th hole. Should that 73rd hole not be enough to determine a winner, the golfers in the sudden-death playoff will walk to the adjacent 10th hole and work their way back to the clubhouse at 18.
Since the sudden-death playoff came into being at Augusta in 1976, The Masters Tournament hasn’t needed more than two playoff holes to decide a winner. In theory, should the sudden-death playoff need an 11th hole in sudden-death, it probably repeats the same process of 18 to 10 through 18.
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Basically, the sudden-death playoff will happen about every 3-5 years. When it does, it will be decided on the 18th/73rd hole. If its needs a 74th hole, the golfers in the tiebreaker will trek across some woods and play the 10th hole again. One day, The Masters will need a 75th hole. When that day comes, get ready because we’d get to see the 11th hole for a second time on Sunday.