We all know any golf tournament can turn on its head in the blink of an eye, and The Players Championship 2026 has done just that on the final day.
Heading into Sunday, Ludvig Aberg had a three-stroke lead and looked incredibly calm and composed about his position at the top of the leaderboard.
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The Players Championship leaderboard has changed rapidly after a couple of water balls from Aberg on the 11th and 12th hole.
Now, there’s every chance that we’ll see a playoff after 72 holes, with just three strokes separating the top five right now, and another three golfers just one more shot behind.
So, what happens if we have a tie for the lead by the end of 18 holes on Sunday evening?
The playoff format at The Players Championship is relatively simple, and comprises of a three-hole aggregate setup.
Players will revisit the iconic back three holes at TPC Sawgrass, which includes the epic par-5 16th, the terrifying island green at 17th, and the hazardous par-4 on 18th. Whoever has the lowest score after those three holes wins.
If there is still a tie after that three-hole format, the players go to sudden death and play the 17th again. If it’s still level, they go back to 16, then through 17, and 18 until we have a winner.
With a $4.5m prize for the winner of The Players Championship and $2.75m for the runner up, any error, or indeed, stroke of genius, can cost a player $1.75m.
There have been six playoffs at The Players Championship in the history of this event. We saw exactly that last year, with Rory McIlroy and JJ Spaun taking the action into Monday morning to decide a winner.
McIlroy was victorious there, and the next winner of this prestigious event may well need to put in that extra effort to lift the trophy.
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