What Is the U.S. Women's Open Playoff Format?
The U.S. Women's Open uses a two-hole, aggregate score playoff. That means all the tied golfers at the end of 72 holes continue into the playoff. They play two holes and combine their scores on the two holes. And the golfer with the lowest, two-hole score wins the playoff.
If Golfer A scores 4-5 on the two playoff holes, and Golfer B scores 4-4, then Golfer B wins the playoff 8 strokes to 9.
And what happens if the golfers are still tied after the two-hole, aggregate score playoff? Then they keep playing more holes in a sudden-death format: The first golfer who wins a hole wins the playoff.
So, to recap: The U.S. Women's Open uses a two-hole, aggregate score playoff format. If golfers remain tied after that playoff, they continue for as many holes as necessary in a sudden-death format.
The tournament had different playoff formats in the past. For much of its history, it used an 18-hole playoff that took place the day after the final round. The last 18-hole playoff was at the 2006 U.S. Women's Open, where Annika Sorenstam defeated Pat Hurst, 70 to 74.
After 2006, the USGA switched to a three-hole, aggregate score format. That format was used twice, in the 2011 U.S. Women's Open and in the 2016 U.S. Women's Open.
The USGA then switched to the current two-hole, aggregate score format. And the current format was first used in the 2018 U.S. Women's Open.
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