2025 PGA Championship playoff format: What happens if two or more playes are tied after 72 holes?

Quail Hollow has humbled even the best this week. Rory McIlroy and Xander Shauffele are way back and only a select few are within striking distance of 3-day leader Scottie Scheffler.

As we enter Day four of the PGA Championship, the top of the leaderboard is currently an eight-man race. Seven of those players are trying to catch Scottie Scheffler and only one is withing three shots of the leader.

Alex Noren stands alone in second place at -8 while Davis Riley and J.T. Poston are T3 at -7. At T5 are Jon Rahm, Si Woo Kim and Jhonattan Vegas. Rounding out the top-8 are Keegan Bradely, Tony Finau, Bryson DeChambeau, Matthieu Pavon and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Chances are Scheffler will walk away with the Wanamaker Trophy and $3.42 million, but in golf, anything can happen.

So what happens if the day finishes with these players still tied?

Unlike the British Open which employs a four-hole aggregate playoff, or the US Open which plays a full 18 holes, the PGA Championship uses a three-hole aggregate system, which will then move to sudden-death if still tied.

Related stories

GOLF

The coveted Wanamaker Trophy: the lowdown

GOLF

PGA Championship future venues

Any golfers tied for first place at the end of the fourth day will play in a three-hole aggregate playoff, with the lowest combined score over the three holes declared champion. This playoff would start at number 16 then hole 17 and finish at 18. The players will draw lots to determine who tees off first and if they are still tied at the end of the three holes, it will move on to a sudden-death hole-by-hole match, starting at 18 before going back to numbers 17 and 16. The play will repeat hole-by-hole until someone wins outright.

Past playoffs at the PGA Championship

This playoff system has been the deciding factor in five previous PGA Championships.

• 2000: Tiger Woods defeated Bob May at Vahalla Golf Club
• 2004: Vijay Singh defeated Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard at Whistling Straits
• 2010: Martin Kaymer defeated Bubba Watson at Whistling Straits
• 2011: Keegan Bradley defeated Jason Dufner at Atlanta Athletic Club
• 2022: Justin Thomas defeated Will Zalatoris at Southern Hills