to the 16th. getting ready to be out there. >> we mentioned guys, the three-hole aggregate. strategically, what goes through the players' minds here, gary? >> well you have to make a decision how aggressively do you want to play. in a sudden death playoff, you think you'll go for it off the bat. now with three holes to play, especially three difficult holes, you can afford to be more conservative in your game plan as you get out there. >> even though it's aggregate, you still have to play a little bit of match play. you have to watch to see what your opponent is doing, because when you add them up, you want to have the lowest score. could be even, a couple over. >> and i think, too, it makes it harder to predict. usually in a sudden death playoff, you go with the guy with the hot hand. if somebody played a better round like montgomerie obviously did over gene sauers.

you would say, hey, he has the advantage. but in a three-hole playoff i down say that's the case. >> a regular u.s. open, they go with a 18-hole play job but three hole aggregate also being instituted in the united states women's open championship. we get another example of it for the second time in the u.s. senior open. so they're still making their way out to the par 4 16th. we will have this start when we come back to oak tree in just a moment. stay with us. meanwhile, we

playoff between colin montgomerie and gene sauers, this will be the last event on this sunday in the world of golf to be decided. congratulations to another savannah native brian harman who earlier today earned this first pga tour win in the john deere classic. one shot victory over zach johnson. like gene sauers, a savannah native. congratulations. >> to analyze the three holes, 16 and 18 are very difficult driving holes. 17, the par 3, probably not as tough as it's played all week. the pin's in a very favorable

location but i think the key is right here, gary. >> gentlemen, the order of play will be by lot. colin will draw first because his score was posted first. >> gene gets that by elimination. you'll bat second, you'll bat first. gentlemen, the playoff is a three hole aggregate. 16, 17 and 18. if we do not have a champion in three holes we'll play 10 and 18 until one wins. good luck to both of you. >> the president of the usga tom o'toole going over the particulars with sauers and monty. >> you were talk about the difficulty of the par 4 holes, interestingly, both favor a right-to-left tee shot. in a perfect world you would play a draw on both of those holes, and yet, both of those plays prefer to play the ball in the other direction, left to

right. they're going to have to fit the ball in the fairway on 17 and again on 18. i think for gene at this point, having hit a bad shot into that fairway bunker earlier today, i think a 3-wood would be to play for him. just put the ball in play. give yourself a chance to get the ball on the green. he's got driver out. >> i agree, peter, you need driver. was lucky to get a shot at the green. i think the 3-wood will play as well. certainly makes the fairway much wider effectively. >> and this is going right, at the right side of the bunker. and drives into it.

>> without question, if you're going play fade, you got to challenge the trees down to the left-hand side of the hole, almost take it over those and work the ball back to the right. >> neither one of those players very successful in playoffs in their career. in fact, monty, on the european and pga tours, 0-7-1 in playoffs. >> boy, this one is hammered. up the right-hand side, breaking just a little. looks it like it might have caught that bunker. possibly. >> it's in the bunker, we get a report. sauers, 1-4 in pga and champions tour playoffs. so both of them kind of break through in that department.

a reminder, the next major in the regular tour is upon us. the british open. tomorrow golf central is live from royal liverpool. phil mickelson in defense of his title. tiger woods at royal lake where he won the championship. 7:00 eastern on golf channel. both much in

the same predicament. that was sauers lie up against it. there is colin montgomerie off the tee. >> and the chances are, neither player going to have an opportunity to reach the green. >> so what about sauers, roger? >> well, it doesn't have the greatest line, the bunker. it settles lightingly. but he does have an angle along that steep embankment to the right where he can play at the hole. it's a little too left but where he's got a shot, it's faf enough to get it up over the left. a very, very tough shot. but he has a chance. >> going with a 3-iron, it sounded like, roger. which 3-iron from a lot so good lie on a fairway bunker doesn't

sound like an easy shot to me. >> no it's not. he's got to get it right on the button. but he does have an angle. he does have a way to do it, if, if he pulls it off. >> very difficult to run the ball up on to this green, too. because a very narrow opening between the bunker on the left and the rough on the right. >> well, i don't think he got it all that far. shot it up in the air and it's going to come up well short. but at least he's in the short grass, huh? >> you have another look at this. >> the technique is good. he's gripped down on the club which you want to do when you're hitting a fairway bunker shot to catch up with the fact that you put your feet down in the sand try to keep the relationship the same. that's just a tough shot.

>> that's actually pretty good place in that position. that gives him an opportunity to get that up and down with a lob wedge. >> unlike sauers, monty has no chance of reaching the green. he's got to pick a yard that he wants to get to. try to hit this one to that yard. i don't think he can advance it 150 yards. >> you've got to be careful, mark, you that don't try to get more out of it than you can. make sure you hit it out of the bunker. don't hit it on the lip of the bunker which he did, remember on the third round on the 7th hole. >> and looks to me like he hit it about 120 yards. >> so monty is well back of sauers. the upcoming third. >> well here's a replay. he's got his weight back on his right side. you'll keep the weight there, you don't shift as much weight. that helps you to get the ball

up quicker. and that ball garly got over that bunker. >> remember, this is a three-hole aggregate. even though this is a playoff, is this not a sudden death playoff so you've got to count them all. >> earlier, mentioned that colin montgomerie had the chance to join this list. roger chapman the last to do it, hale irwin, gary player, all of those hall of famers. we mentioned his playoff record, guys, 0-7-1. and two of those playoff losses came in major championships. the one at oakmont, the u.s. open, ernie els. and then lost to the pga championship in riviera. here he is a chance for a majors. >> the good news is, one of those two players is going to improve their playoff record, no question about it. but, peter, i have to say, i'm a little surprised after gene sauers drove his ball into the

fairway bunker that montgomerie didn't make sure he hit it left. or grabbed a 3-wood. >> i would, too. this is match play. they're adding them up for three holes, but it's match play. you want to have the advantage on every hole. after gene put it in the fairway bunker. the advantage was to monty. he just gave it right back. or basically got even again by hitting it in the bunker himself. >> so, mark, what's the distance for monty now? >> he's got 74 yards. he needs to carry the ball at least 70. he knows it kucomes off the bunr shot and left. if he lands 15 feet left of the hole, it's going to ricochet just right. the key is to carry it back tour just short of where it is.

i don't think he hit that very solid. >> well, i would call that okay at best with that yardage to come up 20 feet short. had a strange flight to it, gary. >> well, his tendency has been to hit these wedges very low. looked like it almost was out on the toe a little bit. >> what about gene's yardage there, rog? >> 45 yards. it will be interesting to see how much spin he can get on this not ate fair angle monty had. he has to play across that bunker and get it to stop. >> well, better for gene. that's a very similar line to what he had when he had the par putt on 16 in regulation. just a little bit longer. >> speaking of that, we're going

to show you the third from earlier in regulation. just popping it up there and giving himself that putt, gary. >> yeah, well, that's a chance, certainly much shorter than the one he has upcoming, but at least it's a similar line. >> this was it. >> and it was just a complete -- i wouldn't say whiff. but the head moved and he was not confident in that putt. >> it is easy to look back and say would i want it? obviously that is a number in regulation, the bogey dropped back to 5 under, and here we are. so it's monty away. and he's directing traffic out there, mark. we see a lot of that over the years. >> yeah, boy, he can see movement 200 yards away. he can appear it from farther than that, i think. >> gary, he's got a pretty similar putt to the one he about half an hour ago.

this is the one that's got two subtle breaks. first it goes right. and then halfway through the putt at the same time, actually he wants it to go left of the hole. he read the putt the first time around, but left it short. >> again, for those of you maybe who just joined us, is this a playoff, but again, is this not sudden death. they add up the scores on the three holes. and if they're even tied after that, then it goes sudden death, beginning over at the 10th.

>> it's going to be a bogey 5 for monty. sauers will have a chance to take a one-shot advantage to the 17th. >> we talked a little bit about momentum swings in these situations, roger. here's a chance for gino to grab that momentum. >> yeah, this is a very similar putt that he had earlier in regulation play. a little longer, but he knows it goes left. he missed it left earlier.

>> so a little work left here. >> yeah. >> be careful, take your time, regain your focus. >> you know what, this is a trying week, guys. you play a couple days in this searing heat. these goes have been in the throes of this championship pressure. and temperatures that have soared to their hottest readings on this final day. long week at oak tree. >> yeah, it wears you out. it's tough. the golf course is tough. a beautiful setup. but it takes you out of your game plan. you have to really show patience. you've got some heat. but now you've got the pressure of this three-hole playoff. it's tough to maintain your focus. >> all the players have talked about it. let's show you how they played the 17th earlier in regulation. this was an 8-iron used by

monty. >> yeah. he played it the way you need to. got it left of the hole. utilize the slope of the green and gave himself himself a birdie. >> and even par, to remain at 5 under. and he went on to par the 18th. sauers with an 8-iron. >> a good shot here to the right. you'll see it hits hard and runs back. got lucky that it didn't run off the green. >> so both a couple of pars. and if you're just joining us, we are in a three-hole aggregate playoff. a david and goliath-type of story between colin montgomerie trying to win his second major of the season. and gene sauers who won three times as a member of the pga tour. walked away from a game in 2005. then endured a life-threatening skin condition which kind of revitalized his attitude for this game of golf.

but doctors gave him a 25% chance of survival. and in that hospital bed for all of those days and those weeks and months of recovery, he told himself, reminded himself he wanted to get good at this game again. and you can see the scars and the skin grafts on his arms. that sauers had to endure. so this has been quite a comeback journey for sow sauers the throes of a major title here. >> starts left. and it's down. >> does have some green to work with from over there. >> so there's the opening. the ebb and flow of this mettle

match play. >> montgomerie going with the same club he used in regulation, whereas, sauers went with one club more this go-round. >> going the distance this time around. right towards the center of the green. a little fade. >> got it again. >> beautiful tee shot weaved in there by monty. that fade we've been seeing for so many years. he'll have a birdie try. sauers will do it. they both birdied the first of the three hole aggregate holes. . with a fidelity investment professional... or managing your investments on your own. helping you find new ways to plan for retirement. and save on taxes

where you can. so you can invest in the life that you want today. tap into the full power of your fidelity greenline. call or come in today for a free one-on-one review.

so there is an advantage on the second aggregate playoff hole for colin montgomerie after he sauers shared bogey to stay even so far. and now sauers is going to walk down into that bunker for his second, rog. >> he's got a very good lie. you have to get it up quickly. very steep bank, as most of these bunkers have here at oak tree. but plenty of green to work with.

>> won't be hard to spin the ball from the sand, so is it works to gene's advantage he's just going to splash this thing out and let it run. >> oh, and that is going down. man. >> well, as we said, he's just going to try to clip this out, make sure he gets it out over the bank and just let it run to the hole. he just carried the ball too far. >> see how he releases the club, peter, coming out of the bunker. most guys would hold that club face open and not let the right hand turn over. it's interesting to me, to hit a fade, you've got to hold that thing off. that's the second time we've seen him do that on a bunker shot. the time previously it was a long bunker shot and it worked out okay. that was a much shorter shot.

i'm surprised at the technique. >> remember, this is a three-hole aggregate. so they all count. it's important that he gets this up and in. possibly, he could hole it from here. >> he'll want to make more than the bogey, especially that monty lined up there for birdie. >> he's got the putter out from just inside 15 feet off the green here. must be uphill until it reaches the green, and then it will start turning away slightly. but it will move to his right. it's just a matter of coming through here without bouncing so he can control the speed. >> well, it bounced. not bad. >> yep. he'll take that. it's going to be a bogey for sauers. but monty can really put the hammer down if this happens.

take another look at the bouncy rugt this took. >> well, anytime you putt up the deep slopes you're putting into the green of the bermuda grass. when you hit down on it a little bit. it hops up. >> so this for a two-shot swing here at 17. >> 16-foot putters here is a lot here, gary. you know, if you make it, you have a two-putt. if you get the one, you get the one-shot. >> should it work to the left? >> i think it's a ball on the right. just a nice comfortable pace, too. >> it moved that much. >> and it will be a one-shot advantage as they head to the

difficult 18th, whereas, we've come to know today, anything can happen. >> par for monty, bogey for sauers. colin montgomerie with a one-shot advantage. a reminder that tomorrow's morning's stage 10 of the tour de france is on nbcsn. again, it was tony martin who won the ninth stage earlier today. third german to win a stage. so big day tofor germany, as th also won the world cup over argentina. showed you what happened earlier at 17. this is what happened earlier at

18. this is a birdie try for colin montgomerie. he was able to make that for par. then sauers' second shot the chance to put away the championship. 72nd holes in regulation. >> a very heroic try by gene to carry it across that bunker. gets a perfect bounce off that primary rough. down to about ten feet, eight, ten feet. >> with everything on the line. this was for the victory. good putting. but he's proud of himself for putting a good stroke on it. in the end, they were both tied at 5 under. as you look at colin montgomerie, you might wonder why the guy has 0-7-1 playoff record. well, back in 2002 in spain at the volvo masters, darkness came over the last couple of holes in the playoffs between monty and

bernhard langer, instead of returning the next morning, they agreed to share the title. this case it was a sharing of a title. >> i didn't know you could do that. >> i didn't either. >> it's a pretty interesting situation. there's so many people moving there's no way monty could stop on both sides of the fairways. he's going into the bunker this time but it is solid. >> oh, that's good. that is a run as well. so that's a big drive. >> a big advantage again with a one-shot lead. sauers is going to have to figure out a way to make up a shot difference. >> to the right side of the fairway last time, he got it close. i think he would like to have it a little farther up off the tee.

>> okay, that should be fine. >> just behind colin montgomerie whose got the advantage in the 35th united states senior open. this par 17, and sauers' bogey at the hole gave them the one-shot clearance.