What Is The AIG Women’s Open Playoff Format?

The final round of the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes was proving a tight affair.

At the start of play, Yealimi Noh appeared to be closing in on her maiden Major title, beginning with a three-shot lead.

However, she gradually lost her grip on proceedings as the afternoon wore on, with several players still harboring realistic hopes of victory with just a handful of holes remaining.

That brought the possibility of a playoff to determine the winner firmly into the equation, but what is the format if two or more players share the lead after 72 holes?

Yealimi Noh at the AIG Women's Open — Yealimi Noh led after 54 holes, but she lost her grip on proceedings as the final round wore on

If there’s not an outright winner in regulation, a sudden-death playoff will take place.

That will mean each player co-leading heads back to the 18th tee box, with the same hole played over and over until a winner is found.

Sudden-death is a format that has already been needed for a women’s Major this year, when Haeran Ryu defeated Brooke Henderson with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff at the Amundi Evian Championship.

Since becoming a Major in 2001, the AIG Women’s Open has only needed one playoff to determine a winner.

That came four years ago, when Ashleigh Buhai beat In Gee Chun on the third extra hole at Muirfield.

Ashleigh Buhai after winning the AIG Women's Open — Ashleigh Buhai beat In Gee Chun in a playoff four years ago

However, the tournament has been around significantly longer, with the first edition taking place in 1976.

The following year, Vivien Saunders and Mary Everard finished tied after 72 holes, with Saunders winning on countback after her closing 76 bettered Everard's 79.

There have been two other playoffs in the event’s history, in 1988, when Corinne Dibnah beat Sally Little, and 1990, when Helen Alfredsson beat Jane Hill.

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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.