Golf

Stroke play

The format used by almost every professional tournament. Every player counts every stroke across the round, and the lowest total over the whole event wins. Because the whole field plays the same course, the comparison is direct: a player's score is comparable with everyone else's, which is what makes a leaderboard meaningful.

A player's score is expressed relative to par, the number of strokes a scratch player is expected to need for the course. Finishing under par means beating that expectation. This is why golf scores read as negative numbers: they measure performance against the course, not against an opponent.

Match play

Two players, or two pairs, compete hole by hole. Whoever takes more strokes on a hole loses it. The score is expressed as a lead and a number of holes remaining — "two up with three to play" — rather than as a total. The match ends as soon as one side cannot be caught, so a match-play event can finish before the final hole.

Match play rewards a different skill set. A disastrous hole costs a single hole rather than the whole tournament, and a player can win overall while taking more strokes than an opponent across the round. That is impossible in stroke play, and it is why the two formats produce different champions.

Stableford and handicap formats

Many amateur and some professional events use Stableford, which awards points per hole according to the score against par, with a bad hole costing nothing rather than damaging the total. Most club golf is played off a handicap that adjusts a player's allowance so that golfers of different standards can compete. Handicap systems are administered nationally and unified internationally, and their calculation has been revised in recent years.

How a professional tournament runs

1. Four rounds of 18 holes, one per day, usually from Thursday to Sunday.
2. The cut. After the second round, the field is reduced to those who made the cut. The size and the qualification rule are set by the tournament, and the cut is what makes the first two days consequential: a player who misses it cannot win, however well they play at the weekend.
3. Weekend pairings. Players are grouped by position, so the leading contenders play together in the final groups — which adds a direct, in-the-moment comparison that stroke play does not otherwise provide.

Because the cut removes roughly half the field and the course plays differently on each day, weather is unusually influential. A morning tee time in calmer conditions is a genuine advantage, which is why the draw for tee times is closely followed.

Where competitions come from

• Established professional tours. The main men's and women's tours run season-long schedules of stroke-play events, with a season-ending championship and a ranking system that determines entry into the biggest events. Tour membership is earned through qualifying school or performance.
• The four men's major championships. Four events sit above the tours and are run by separate bodies rather than by a single governing authority. Winning one defines a career, and a "grand slam" is winning all four in a single season — an achievement rare enough to be treated as historic.
• Team and international events. Biennial team competitions between two sides, and amateur team events, are the sport's main representative format. Selection is by qualifying or captain's pick, and the points system used to qualify is published in advance.
• Rookie and developmental tours. Below the main tours, professional circuits feed players upward through qualifying.

The women's game has an equivalent structure of tours and its own major championships. The number of women's majors has varied over time, so the current set is a figure to confirm rather than assume.

Why the course is a variable

Unlike a pitch with fixed dimensions, every golf course is different: length, width, the amount and height of rough, bunkering, water and green speed. Course set-up can also be altered between rounds by moving tees and pin positions, and the governing bodies can adjust how the course plays. A tournament is therefore as much a test of adapting to a specific venue as of raw scoring, and comparisons of scores across different events are not like-for-like.