Largest Playoffs in PGA Tour History

What is the largest number of golfers ever to take part in a playoff at a PGA Tour tournament? The record is six golfers — a 6-man playoff has happened three times in PGA Tour history. Surprisingly, none of those three, 6-player, sudden-death playoffs lasted more than two holes.

2021 Wyndham Championship

Winner: Kevin Kisner
Others in the playoff: Branden Grace, Adam Scott, Kevin Na, Roger Sloan, Si Woo Kim

After finishing 72 holes tied at 15-under 265, all six golfers made pars of 4 on the first extra hole, the 18th hole. So they replayed the 18th. And the second time around, Kisner made a birdie 3. None of others could match that score, making Kisner the champion.

2001 Nissan Open

Winner: Robert Allenby
Others in the playoff: Toshi Izawa, Brandel Chamblee, Dennis Paulson, Jeff Sluman, Bob Tway

Allenby and crew tied in regulation at 8-under 276. Allenby and Sluman both had par putts to win on the 72nd green, but bogeyed to fall back into the 6-way tie. The playoff took place in cold, wet weather on Riviera Country Club's 18th hole. Only two of those in the playoff reached the green in two — Tway and Allenby. But Allenby's 3-wood approach stopped five feet from the hole, and he knocked in that birdie putt to win.

1994 Byron Nelson Classic

Winner: Neal Lancaster
Others in the playoff: Mark Carnevale, Tom Byrum, David Edwards, Yoshinori Mizumaki, David Ogrin

The PGA Tour's very first 6-man playoff happened in unusual circumstances: Due to very bad weather, only 36 holes of the tournament were played. And after those two rounds, six golfers shared the lead. And although six golfers were in it, it ended very quickly: The playoff lasted only one hole. Lancaster won it with a 4-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole.

The First 5-Way Playoff on the PGA Tour

Five-golfer playoffs have also been rare on the PGA Tour, just not quite as rare as 6-way playoffs. For example, there were three 5-man playoffs during the 1980s, and three more during the 1990s.

But when and where was the first 5-man playoff in PGA Tour history? In 1948 at the Tacoma Open Invitational. And it was an 18-hole playoff, as was the norm at the time. Fred Haas Jr. shot 72, Chuck Congdon had a 73, and Vic Ghezzi scored 75. But Ed Oliver and Cary Middlecoff had 69s. Still tied, those two continued into sudden death. And on that first sudden-death hole, a par-5, Middlecoff made birdie, but Oliver made eagle to win it.

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