British Open playoff format: Tiebreaker rules for The Open Championship

With a tight Open Championship at St. Andrews, we take a look at the British Open playoff format to see how a winner would be decided in a tiebreaker.

Throughout the British Open at St. Andrews for the 150th Open Championship, it’s been tight. Even when Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland built a four-shot lead as they were tied at the top entering the final round, you knew that it was going to be a tight finish. And the thought of a playoff certainly entered the minds of many.

What’s always interesting at golf’s major championships is that there aren’t ubiquitous playoff rules to decide a winner if there is a tie after 72 holes. Some of the tournaments use a sudden-death format. Others use a mini-playoff with an aggregate score.

The British Open playoff format is fascinating because it’s actually not the same for every playing of the championship. The R&A, who puts on The Open Championship, has stated that the tiebreaker rules change for every tournament depending on the course. So with a tight one at St. Andrews, we’re taking a look at what the format will be this week.

British Open playoff format: Tiebreaker rules at The Open

The tiebreaker at the Old Course will be a four-hole aggregate at St. Andrews, a change from the three-hole aggregate used as the British Open playoff format for the championships in 2019 and 2021.

For the holes that the players would be playing against one another on, they will play Nos. 1, 2, 17 and 18, which makes a ton of sense given how iconic those finishing holes are. Having the Road Hole at the 17th be part of deciding the Champion Golfer of the Year makes all of the sense in the world.

Now it’s all about if this tight tournament gets to a playoff. But if it does, we know how it’ll be decided thereafter.

For more from The PGA Tour, make sure to follow FanSided and stay tuned to our golf hub for all the latest news and results.