Long live the Playoff King.

The Playoff King is - make that was - Robert Allenby, who before Sunday was a remarkable 10-0 in playoffs in his career. Granted, only three of those playoff wins were on the PGA Tour, but 10 playoff wins without a loss is 10 playoffs without a loss. I don't care where they are coming. But then Allenby had to go low on Sunday and eke into a playoff, which he wound up losing to Justin Leonard at the Stanford St. Jude Championship.

Not even Tiger Woods can claim 10 playoff wins without a loss. In fact, Tiger is 10-1 in playoffs. Checking the PGA Tour media guide, the most playoff victories without a loss that I can find for any given player is three, by Phil Blackmar. Phil Blackmar, people! Phil won three times on Tour, and all of those wins were via playoffs. (It should be noted that the media guide only lists golfers who still have some kind of status on the PGA Tour, not all players throughout history who've been in playoffs.)

So, who has the best playoff record in PGA Tour history? Can't say for sure, because, as noted, the PGA Tour media guide doesn't list all players. It does have a chart for most wins via playoff, with six wins the cutoff, and the volume leaders are:

Arnold Palmer, 14
Jack Nicklaus, 14
Sam Snead, 12
Tiger Woods, 10
Tom Watson, 9
Billy Casper, 8
Ben Hogan, 8
Phil Mickelson, 7
Vijay Singh, 7
Cary Middlecoff, 7
Curtis Strange, 6
Tom Kite, 6
Bruce Lietzke, 6
Byron Nelson, 6

These are the only golfers with six or more playoff wins on the PGA Tour. As for winning percentage, among the group above the runaway winner is Tiger's 10-1 mark.

What about won-loss records? Here are the same players with both wins and losses listed:

Arnold Palmer, 14-10
Jack Nicklaus, 14-10
Sam Snead, 12-5
Tiger Woods, 10-1
Tom Watson, 9-4
Billy Casper, 8-8
Ben Hogan, 8-12
Phil Mickelson, 7-2
Vijay Singh, 7-3
Cary Middlecoff, 7-6-1 (yes, he had a tie - a shared title)
Curtis Strange, 6-3
Tom Kite, 6-4
Bruce Lietzke, 6-6
Byron Nelson, 6-6

Would you have guessed that Ben Hogan - considered one of the most intimidating players in golf history - had a losing record in playoffs? It's surprising how many good players have bad (sometimes even awful) playoff records. Here are a few of those:

Mark Calcavecchia, 1-4
Jim Furyk, 2-7
Davis Love, 2-7
Greg Norman, 4-8
Gary Player, 3-10

But the worst playoff golfer in PGA Tour history turns out to be a Hall of Famer, and someone noted for being among the greatest putters of all-time.

Ben Crenshaw was 0-8 in playoffs on the PGA Tour.

(On the LPGA Tour, the record for most playoff wins is 16 by Annika Sorenstam; the most playoff wins without a loss is five by Se Ri Pak.)

... and Open Thread ...

PGA Tour
Justin Leonard earned PGA Tour career win No. 12 with a birdie putt on the second playoff hole at the Stanford St. Jude Classic. Leonard vanquished Robert Allenby and Trevor Immelman in the playoff after the trio finished regulation at 4-under 276.

Story | Scores

European Tour
A Singh was a winner at the Bank Austria Golf Open. Not Vijay, but Jeev Milka. JMV recorded 18 straight pars, and that was good enough to beat Simon Wakefield by a stroke in the tournament shortened to 54 holes by bad weather.

Story | Scores

Nationwide Tour
Scott Gutschewski stormed home with a 66 to come from behind and win the Rex Hospital Open. Gutschewski, whose total was 270, wound up winning by two over Chad Ginn and Esteban Toledo.

Story | Scores

LPGA Tour
At age 19, Yani Tseng is a major championship winner. Tseng defeated Maria Hjorth on the fourth playoff hole to win the McDonald's LPGA Championship after both players finished at 276. Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa shared third place.

Story | Scores

Ladies European Tour
Gwladys Nocera, who has been the best full-time LET player for the past several years, claimed another victory on Sunday at the ABN AMRO Ladies Open in The Netherlands. It is her second win of the season and seventh in just more than two years. Nocera finished at 13-under 203, one stroke ahead of rookie Melissa Reid.

Story | Scores