Players Championship adopts 3-hole playoff

The Players Championship is abandoning its sudden-death playoff and switching to a three-hole aggregate playoff in a move that further separates the elite event from other US PGA Tour stops. The plan will go into effect for this year's tournament at TPC Sawgrass in May. Should the final round come down to a playoff, it will take place at holes 16, 17 and 18. "Holes 16, 17 and 18 of The Players Stadium Course are perhaps the most dramatic closing holes in professional golf from a risk-reward standpoint, as they test all facets of a player's physical and mental game while under the pressure of trying to win such a significant championship," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement on Wednesday. "Given the fact that winning The Players means you have defeated the strongest field in golf, we felt an aggregate playoff that incorporated these three holes was a more appropriate way to determine the champion." Should a tie remain after the three-hole playoff, sudden death will start at the par-three 17th hole -- the course's signature hole with its intimidating "island green". The Players Championship joins the US PGA Championship in using a three-hole, aggregate playoff. The British Open uses a four-hole aggregate playoff and the US Open stages an 18-hole playoff. The Masters is the only major to use a sudden-death playoff format, which is also the format used by all other US tour events. There have been four playoffs in the 40-year history of the Players Championship, the last coming in 2011 when South Korea's KJ Choi beat David Toms with a par on the first extra hole -- the 17th. Source: AFP