John Huh, a 21-year-old rookie, defeated veteran Robert Allenby in a sudden-death playoff to win the Mayakoba Golf Classic on Sunday, a playoff that lasted eight holes.
And that makes it the second-longest sudden-death playoff in PGA Tour history, tied with several others that lasted eight holes. Huh finally won it with a par on the eighth extra hole after both players had parred all seven previous playoff holes.
An 8-hole sudden-death playoff had happened four times before in tour history, most recently in 1983 in a playoff that included Johnny Miller. (See the list of longest PGA Tour playoffs.)
The record-holder is an 11-hole playoff at the 1949 Motor City Open that, oddly, ended without either playing winning a hole. Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum matched each other score-for-score for 11 holes, at which point everyone agreed to declare them co-winners and go home. (They didn't run such a tight ship in 1949.)
These are all sudden-death playoffs; many other playoffs in golf history are much longer than 11 holes. A playoff at the U.S. Open is still a minimum of 18 holes, for example. And one playoff at the U.S. Open was 72 holes long. That happened at the 1931 U.S. Open. Billy Burke and George Von Elm finished 72 holes tied, so they proceeded to a scheduled 36-hole playoff. After which, they were again tied. So they played another 36 holes. Burke finally emerged the winner by a single stroke.
And that makes it the second-longest sudden-death playoff in PGA Tour history, tied with several others that lasted eight holes. Huh finally won it with a par on the eighth extra hole after both players had parred all seven previous playoff holes.
An 8-hole sudden-death playoff had happened four times before in tour history, most recently in 1983 in a playoff that included Johnny Miller. (See the list of longest PGA Tour playoffs.)
The record-holder is an 11-hole playoff at the 1949 Motor City Open that, oddly, ended without either playing winning a hole. Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum matched each other score-for-score for 11 holes, at which point everyone agreed to declare them co-winners and go home. (They didn't run such a tight ship in 1949.)
These are all sudden-death playoffs; many other playoffs in golf history are much longer than 11 holes. A playoff at the U.S. Open is still a minimum of 18 holes, for example. And one playoff at the U.S. Open was 72 holes long. That happened at the 1931 U.S. Open. Billy Burke and George Von Elm finished 72 holes tied, so they proceeded to a scheduled 36-hole playoff. After which, they were again tied. So they played another 36 holes. Burke finally emerged the winner by a single stroke.
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