How Ties are Broken in a Golf Event

During golf events, ties between golfers often occur. PlayThru gives you two options on how to break these ties.

With either tiebreaker option, tied golfers are given the same position number to show that there is a tie. From there, the tied golfers are sorted based one of the below tiebreaking options.

In other words, the names as listed on the leaderboard are in the correct order of how they finished. The first name is first, the second name finished second and so on. In the image above, Keith gets first place prize money, Wiggy gets second and Larry gets third.  

Option 1: Last Played (Default)

The Last Played option is based on the USGA's tie breaking rules. When two or more golfers finish with the same score, ties are broken using the following criteria:

• Last 9 Holes: First, the hole scores of the tied golfers from the last 9 holes are added up and compared. The golfer with the best total (depending on the type of scoring format) is deemed the winner.
• Last 6 Holes: If a tie persists, the scores from the last 6 holes are added up and compared.
• Last 3 Holes: Should a tie still remain, the scores from the last 3 holes are considered.
• Last Hole: If golfers are still tied after all the above steps, the score on the very last hole is compared.
• Alphabetical Order: In the rare occurrence that the tie remains even after comparing the last hole, the system will then sort the golfers alphabetically by their names. At this stage, it is up to the event organizer to decide how the tie should be broken further.

Special Considerations

• Par Values Entered: If the event organizer has inputted Par values into the PlayThru system, the system will use the to-par scores for each hole during the tie-breaker comparisons rather than the gross or net hole scores.
• Points-Based Events: For point-based events , the system looks at the number of points earned on each hole to determine the tie breaker.

Option 2: Hardest Holes

The second tie-breaking option uses hole handicaps. This was the USGA's recommend approach to tiebreaking up till several years ago.

In this format, ties are broken based on the following:

• Hardest Hole: PlayThru finds tied each golfer's hole score on the lowest handicapped hole.
• Second Hardest Hole: If a tie persists, hole scores on the second loweste handicapped hole are compared.
• And so on: This process continues through all 18 holes (or 9 holes in 9-hole events) until the tie is broken.
• Alphabetical Order: In the rare occurrence that the tie remains even after comparing all hole scores, the system will then sort the golfers alphabetically by their names. At this stage, it is up to the event organizer to decide how the tie should be broken further.

Multi-Round Tiebreakers

For golf events spanning multiple rounds, it's important to note that the tie-breaking rules remain the same as described above. However, the system will only consider the scores from the last round of the event to break ties

4-Person Team Events

PlayThru offers both 4-Person Best Ball and Two Best of Four game formats. In these situations, the only tiebreaking format is the Last Played option.

The reason for this is on any given hole the team's score will be based on one or two golfers in the group who may be playing from different tees. This makes it very difficult to evaluate team scores based on the hardest handicapped holes, which in turn opens the door to errors that are very difficult to troubleshoot.

So, to simplify scoring for these game formats, the system looks at each tied team's score over the last 9 holes, last 6, last 3 and then final hole.

Ultimately Your Call

All tied golfers in PlayThru will have the same position number next to their name. So, if you prefer to handle tie breakers a different way than PlayThru does automatically, just let your players know ahead of time and to disregard the order of the tied golfers on the leaderboard.