Golf rule change demanded after Tiger Woods’ major | Golf News

Former PGA Tour luminary Rocco Mediate insists that every one golf majors needs to be determined by an 18-hole playoff in situations of a tie, reflecting on his notorious face-off with Tiger Woods on the 2008 U.S. Open.

Recalling the titanic wrestle at Torrey Pines, which noticed them tied after the common rounds and increasing into an additional day of play, he highlighted their thrilling 18-hole playoff, which concluded solely after they reached sudden death and Woods clinched his 14th major title.

Nowadays, prime tournaments have set apart the prolonged playoffs for brisker codecs, just like the U.S. Open adopting a two-hole mixture strategy in 2018. Speaking fervently to Golfweek, Mediate expressed his opinion: “The 18-hole playoffs are over. Which is ridiculous. Every major should be an 18-hole playoff. And if you tie, it should be 18 more. It’s a major. It’s not a normal event.”

He nostalgically talked about the Masters’ historical past of long playoffs, rejecting its present one-hole sudden-death system: “Sudden death at Augusta National? What? The Masters, we’re just going to have one hole?”

The USGA’s resolution to desert the 18-hole playoffs, ending a 117-year-old custom on the U.S. Open, made waves within the {golfing} world. The group’s bosses argued that concluding tournaments by Sunday was essential.

In a assertion from 2018, former USGA head Mike Davis mentioned: “We know how important it is to everyone in the golf world to see play conclude on the Sunday of a major championship and to award the trophy to the champion.

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“After receiving enter from a selection of constituents, together with gamers, followers, volunteers, officers, and our broadcast companions, it clearly got here throughout as one thing that everybody valued and would benefit from.”

Davis concluded: “There is no proper or fallacious technique to decide a winner in stroke play, however we have seen over time how the combination playoff has served us effectively in each the US Women’s Open and US Senior Open. Two holes will permit a participant to recuperate from any single mistake, and on the identical time, present a memorable, and maybe dramatic, expertise for all concerned.”