A look back at the longest play off in PGA Tour history, which saw both players agree to draw

Add as preferred source on Google

When it comes to a playoff in golf, it can be one of the most exciting things to watch in the entire sport.

Indeed, just this past week, we’ve seen Tiger Woods and son Charlie go head-to-head with Bernhard Langer and his son Jason at the PNC Championship in what was one of the most exciting events for the whole of 2024.

However, that playoff lasted just a single hole before Langer made the crucial putt to win out.

• READ MORE: The moment when Tiger Woods did the ‘impossible’ at the Presidents Cup to leave Gary Player shocked

Over the course of history, there have been some mammoth playoffs involving different players that have lasted a number of holes. Of course, 2024 saw us witness Julien Guerrier against Jorge Campillo in a nine hole epic at the Andalucia Masters.

But even still, that isn’t the longest playoff in golf history and when it comes to the PGA Tour, there’s not always a winner either.

The longest PGA Tour playoff which didn’t even end with a winner

As all golf fans know, the game is about winning and no matter how long it takes, players usually go all the way until there is a victor.

However, on the PGA Tour, we had the curious and rare case of both players agreeing to call it a day as darkness fell.

Back in 1949 at the Motor City Open, Lloyd Mangrum and Cary Middlecoff were in the midst of a serious battle for supremacy in an epic playoff.

The duo went back and forth over 11 playoff holes, with nobody getting the upper-hand as they traded blows as the event descended into darkness.

However, with the light too bad to continue playing and the pair due to walk off and come back the next day, thew duo agreed to shake hands and call it a day, declaring themselves joint winners.

This is very much a rarity, especially in the modern game, although there have been occasions where golf fans may well have felt that a joint winner would have been best for everyone.

The longest playoffs in golf history

While the story of Mangrum and Middlecroff is brilliant due to the ending, it isn’t actually the longest playoff ever recorded.

Remarkably, on the Japan Tour in 1976, a four way playoff involving Peter Thomson, Graham Marsh, Brian Jones, and Shozo Miyamoto went into a mammoth battle to win the Pepsi-Wilson tournament.

The playoff went on for a whopping 14 holes as the players went back and forth before Thomson eventually won out to lift the trophy.

Whether we see the record broken in the future remains to be seen but as 2024 showed, you just never know in golf and as they say, records are there to be broken.