As the oldest major of female golf,  the US Women’s Open is an extremely anticipated event. With the highest purse in women’s golf this year worth $12 million, this event has modified its format a few times to suit the desired event experience better. Let’s look at how the present format has come into being since its debut in 1946.

The US Women’s Open at the moment is a four-round, or 72-hole, stroke-play tournament. It has been that way from the second year of its debut. Just like all the majors, the US Women’s Open also sets its cut after 36 holes, or the second round. This distinctly ensures a balance between players and the flow of the event, as well as its heightened intensity as the cut is purposely incorporated midway.

With the biggest field in any of the women’s majors, the US Women’s Open witnesses 156 golfers on the course at the start of the event on Thursday. But after the cut following the second round, only the top 60 golfers as per the leaderboard remain on the greens, along with possible ties.

These possible ‘ties’ in the tournament are indicative of those players who get tied for the 60th place in the event and hence increase the total number of golfers who are eligible to play further. However, if the 60th place in the event is held by only one golfer, then only 60 golfers can play forward, leaving almost half of the participants behind. The U.S. Women’s Open does not use the 10-stroke rule. As per the 10-stroke rule, golfers who are within 10 strokes of the lead at the time of the cut continue playing through the weekend.

The very first US Women’s Open was designed in a match-play format. Back then, Patty Berg defeated Betty Jameson by 5 and 4 over 36 holes at Spokane Country Club in Spokane, WA. In 2024, the format shows a completely different sight and shows how far the event has come.  But what happens if there is a tie after the 72 holes instead of the 36th at the cut?

What is the playoff format?

There are several instances where many golfers are tied with their scores at the very last round, after their final holes. In that case, a play-off gets conducted. According to NBC Sports, “If at least two players are tied after 72 holes of stroke play, there will be a two-hole aggregate playoff. Thereafter, there would be sudden death.”

With the sudden death, the winner of the tournament is announced when any one of them scores ahead of the others in an extended period after the first play-off. This playoff format was modified in 2018, which reduced the previous number of three aggregate holes to two and then included the sudden death.

Do you like the sudden-death option more than the third aggregate hole in the playoff? Let us know in the comments below. With the game onset at the Lancaster Country Club, who do you think will win this year’s tournament?