WE are edging closer to the first major championship of the year, with the Masters returning on April 6.

Golf fans will be hoping this year’s tournament will be as dramatic as the last time the Green Jacket winner was decided by a playoff back in 2017.

Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose could only be separated by a sudden death playoff after 72 holes at Augusta.

The Spaniard went on to defeat the Englishman to claim his first-ever Green Jacket after 19 attempts.

What is the Masters 2023 playoff format?

The Masters is unique in the fact it adopts a sudden death playoff, unlike the Open Championship, PGA Championship and the US Open.

A sudden death playoff occurs when two or more players are level at the top of the scoreboard after all 72 holes.

All of the golfers involved will play one hole at a time, and the first person to win a hole outright will take home the trophy.

The only holes that are used in the sudden death playoff are the 18th (465yrds) and 10th (495yrds).

Both holes are par-4s, with the 10th being 30 yards longer.

In the playoff, golfers will play the 18th hole first, and if they are still tied, they will play the 10th, and if a winner is still not decided after both holes, they will go back to the 18th, then the 10th and so on until the winner is decided.

Has the Masters’ playoff format always been sudden death?

No, it has not. An 18 holes playoff was the format up until 1976, when it was changed to sudden death.

In 1935, the first year a playoff was needed, it was a massive 36 holes.

Gene Sarazen defeated Craig Wood that year which was only the second Masters Tournament of all time.

In the history of the Masters, there have been 17 times a playoff has been needed to decide the winner.

Here is a breakdown of all the tournaments that have ended with a playoff:

• Sudden death: 11 (1979, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1990, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2017).
• 18 holes playoff: 5 (1942, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970).
• 36 holes playoff: 1 (1935).