If the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills ends with a tie, the championship would shift instantly to a two-hole aggregate playoff on the 17th and 18th. If players stay level, it turns into hole-by-hole sudden death until someone wins—marking the first time the
By the time the final round at Shinnecock Hills begins, there’s a familiar pressure in golf—one last shot, one last chance. But at the 2026 U.S. Open, there’s a second kind of pressure waiting in the shadows: the possibility that 72 holes won’t be enough.
Sometimes 72 holes just isn’t enough, and the 2026 U.S. Open could be heading into a playoff. If two players finish tied after four days of golf at Shinnecock Hills, the championship switches to a format the U.S. Open has used for nearly two decades—but has not needed to deploy until now.
Here’s what happens next.
If players are tied after 72 holes, a two-hole aggregate playoff begins immediately. The lower total over those two holes wins. If they are still level after those two holes. the playoff moves to sudden death—hole by hole—until someone wins. The USGA scrapped its old 18-hole Monday playoff in 2018 and has had the two-hole format ever since. It has not been used. however. so the current playoff structure has never been tested in the way the 2026 tournament might.
At Shinnecock Hills, the playoff wouldn’t stretch far. The two-hole playoff would run on the 17th and 18th holes. The par-3 17th, nicknamed Rabit’s Foot, measures 176 yards. The par-4 18th plays 490 yards and ranked among the harder holes all week—meaning the tournament’s final decision could come down to a short swing on one hole and a long. punishing finish on the next.
That makes the U.S. Open playoff feel different from the other majors. Every major breaks a tie in its own way: the Masters goes straight to sudden death. the PGA Championship uses a three-hole playoff. and The Open Championship plays four extra holes. sometimes three. The U.S. Open’s two-hole aggregate step sits in between—short enough to turn into a sprint. strict enough to punish one misjudgment.
The reason this matters isn’t just the format itself. The U.S. Open has gone a long time without needing any playoff at all. USGA records list 32 playoffs across the championship’s first 105 tournaments. The number has not moved in a long time, because the U.S. Open has not needed a playoff since 2008. The current two-hole playoff has never been used.
The last time a U.S. Open playoff was needed, Tiger Woods beat Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines in 2008. They were tied after a full 18-hole Monday playoff, so it took a 19th hole, sudden death, to decide it. Woods won on a leg that turned out to be broken.
Golf history is full of moments that only exist because a tie forced extra holes. In 1913. 20-year old amateur Francis Ouimet beat British stars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in an 18-hole playoff—an outcome that put American golf on the map. In 1950, about a year and a half after a near-fatal car crash, Ben Hogan won a playoff at Merion. Jack Fleck stunned Hogan in a 1955 playoff at the Olympic Club. A rookie named Jack Nicklaus beat Arnold Palmer in a playoff at Oakmont in 1962, in front of Palmer’s own crowd.
Some playoffs have even become milestones beyond the winner. In 1990, Hale Irwin won in extra holes and became the oldest U.S. Open champion at 45.
And this time. if the scoreboard ends in a tie at Shinnecock Hills. those extra holes would be immediate—two holes starting right after 72. There’s a reason the U.S. Open keeps its playoff short when it finally has to use it: it can decide a championship in a hole or two. and there’s no room to recover once the first shot goes wrong.
Wyndham Clark is confident as he takes a lead into the final round at the 2026 U.S. Open, and he believes winning before gives him confidence as he pursues the championship. But if the tournament slips into a playoff after that final score. confidence alone won’t carry a player—only the par-3 17th. Rabit’s Foot. and the par-4 18th will.
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2026 U.S. Open Shinnecock Hills playoff format two-hole aggregate sudden death Rabit’s Foot 17th 18th holes USGA