Seeing a 'T' next to a golfer's name on a leaderboard can be confusing, but it simply stands for Tied. This happens when two or more players complete a round or a tournament with the exact same score. This article will explain exactly how ties work in professional tournaments, what to do when there's a tie in your club championship, and how to handle it in a friendly weekend match.
In the simplest terms, the 'T' you see on a PGA Tour leaderboard or your club competition's scoreboard means that several golfers are sharing a place in the standings. If three golfers are sitting in fifth place with a score of -2 (two under par), the leaderboard will show them as "T5."
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
In this example, Players C and D are tied for third place. The next finisher, Player E, is then in fifth place, not fourth. The tied position effectively absorbs the subsequent spots. So, Player C and Player D both hold the third position, and the fourth position is skipped.
While this is simple enough, what happens next depends entirely on the context of the competition and which position is being tied.
On professional golf tours, the stakes for a tie are enormous, especially when it's for first place. A single winner must be declared for the trophy, the winner's check, and the career-defining points for rankings like the FedExCup and the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
When two or more golfers are tied for the lead after the final round of a tournament, they head into a playoff. This is a dramatic, high-pressure showdown to determine the champion. There are two main playoff formats you'll see in professional golf.
This is the most common format used on the PGA Tour. It’s exactly what it sounds like: the tied players go back to play a specific hole (usually the 18th).
This format creates intense, watch-it-on-the-edge-of-your-seat moments where one perfect shot - or one terrible one - can end the tournament instantly.
This format is less common on the standard tours but is famously used in some major championships to create a more comprehensive test. Instead of a single hole, players compete over a set number of extra holes (typically three or four).
The U.S. Open used to have a full 18-hole Monday playoff, but has since moved to a two-hole aggregate playoff. The Open Championship (British Open) uses a four-hole aggregate playoff. If players are still tied after the aggregate holes, the format typically switches to sudden-death to determine the champion.
What if there's a T2, T10, or T45? Unless it’s for a specific qualifying spot, there are no playoffs for any position other than first place. The players simply share the position and its accolades. However, this has a big impact on prize money.
Winnings for tied positions are distributed by adding up the prize money for all the tied spots and dividing it equally among the players. Sound complicated? It's pretty straightforward with an example:
This same calculation applies no matter how many players are tied. If ten players tied for 10th place, the prize money for spots 10 through 19 would be summed up and divided by ten.
Roping everyone back in for a sudden-death playoff isn't always practical at the local club championship or your weekend skins game. Because of that, club and amateur events have a standardized, non-playing method for breaking ties: the scorecard match.
The USGA provides a recommended procedure for breaking ties using only the players' scorecards. The idea is to see which player performed better on the most recent, and presumably more pressured, holes.
Here is the standard method for breaking a tie for an 18-hole competition using net scores (after handicap strokes are applied):
Joe and Susan both finish a net tournament with a score of 72. Who wins the trophy?
If they had both shot 35 on the back nine, you would move to the next step and compare their net scores on holes 13-18, and so on, until a winner emerges.
For your weekly fourball or a friendly match against a friend, things are much more flexible. Deciding a winner when you tie is all about what you agree to beforehand. Here are the common options:
The most important part of handling ties in a casual setting is communication. Decide on the rules before the money or the bragging rights are on the line.
So, 'T' in golf simply stands for 'Tied,' indicating that players have the same score. While professional tours use exciting playoffs to decide a winner, most amateur and club events rely on a scorecard countback system, usually starting with the back nine scores to break ties.
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