A playoff at The Masters is unlike almost anything in sports, but especially in golf. The first major championship of the season is always a thrill ride amid the azaleas, but when it takes more than 72 holes to decide who will be The Masters champion, that only adds to it.
In the 2025 tournament, it didn't look like we were going to be near a playoff when Rory McIlroy walked up to the 13th tee. He had a commanding three-shot lead and seemed to have it on full cruise control. But a disastrous wedge shot after laying up and then a Justin Rose birdie changed the math and put a playoff well into play.
With the possibility of extra golf to decide The Masters champion, fans were wondering what the playoff format is at Augusta National.
The Masters playoff format: What holes do they play to break the tie?
The Masters playoff format is a sudden-death tiebreaker, meaning the first player among the participants in the playoff to score better than his opponents will win. At The Masters, any players competing in a playoff will first play the 18th hole to try and break the tie. If the two players are still tied after the first playoff hole, they'll then play the 10th hole. The playoff will continue until a winner is determined, alternating between the 18th and 10th holes.
When was the last playoff at The Masters?
The last playoff that fans were treated to at The Masters came back in 2017 when Sergio Garcia finally broke through after a great career of showings at Augusta to win his first Green Jacket as he outlasted Justin Rose in the tiebreaker. Garcia, who had previously finished runner-up in his 1999 debut at The Masters and had finished Top 10 three other times in his career, didn't let that playoff go on for long as he birdied the 18th on the first playoff hole, besting Rose, who posted a bogey in the playoff.
Most memorable playoff finishes at The Masters
Garcia's playoff triumph certainly qualifies as a memorable one in Masters history, it still might not be the greatest. That title almost surely belongs to Tiger Woods and Chris DiMarco at the 2005 Masters in an absolute thriller. The final round itself was iconic, including Woods' unforgettable chip-in on the 16th green, but the playoff added even more to it. DiMarco wouldn't relent in trying to take one from Tiger, but on the 18th hole in the playoff, DiMarco had to be hoping for another playoff hole after making a tap-in par and with Woods facing 15 feet for his birdie. Tiger didn't let it get that far, though, draining the putt and securing his fourth title at The Masters.
It's also worth noting that Augusta National had a different playoff format for The Masters prior to 1976 when they would play a full 18-hole playoff to award the Green Jacket. That's when the likes of Arnold Palmer in 1962 and Jack Nicklaus in 1966 etched their name into more history at Augusta with grueling playoff victories.