Playoff Isn’t Open for Discussion : U.S. Open: USGA president says format will remain 18 holes. Some changes, however, are being considered, including going back to playing 36 holes on the final day.

The United States Golf Assn. is considering modifications to the U.S. Open, none of which include dropping the 18-hole playoff format.

“An 18-hole playoff is the fair and sensible way to determine the national championship,” USGA President Grant Spaeth said Tuesday, the day after Payne Stewart’s two-stroke playoff victory over Scott Simpson--the 30th playoff in 91 Opens.

Spaeth added that inconvenience “is the most compelling reason to wrap it up . . . but we don’t think it’s a good enough reason to change.

“Every golfer in the world understands that the best test of golf is 18 holes. It’s like taking a full examination.”

The U.S. Open remains the only major golf tournament that retains the 18-hole playoff format.

The USGA, however, is considering several other changes, including the return to playing 36 holes on the final day of the Open, a format used before the mid 1960s.

“Possibly for our centennial championship,” Spaeth said. The USGA also sponsors the Senior U.S. Open and Women’s U.S. Open.

The protests, arguments and complaints about the 18-hole playoff were renewed Sunday when the Open was decided with an extra day of play for the third time in four years.

The USGA is aware of the arguments to get rid of the format. And Spaeth even agreed an 18-hole playoff may be inconvenient, particularly for the thousands of volunteers necessary to stage a tournament of this magnitude. But he repeated it’s “the fair and sensible” way to go.

The PGA and the Masters, played at the conservative and traditionalist Augusta National Golf Club, have gone to a sudden-death format to decide their champions. The PGA Tour uses a sudden-death format for its events.

The British Open, the oldest of them all, abandoned the 18-hole playoff in the mid-1980s and now uses a four-hole, total score playoff format.

The arguments against the 18-hole playoff revolve around the inconvenience of an extra day being added to the tournament schedule.

“The fans want to see a champion crowned on Sunday,” said Stewart. “The fans deserve to see a champion crowned on Sunday.”

Simpson agreed that a different playoff format would be preferable to adding an extra day of play.

The extra day forced Simpson to cancel a charity outing and Stewart to rearrange a flight to Ireland for the Irish Open.

Also, ABC-TV programing underwent last-minute changes to accommodate Monday’s telecast.

Tournament volunteers, many of whom took a week vacation or unpaid time away from their jobs, suddenly found their Open assignments had been extended into another week.

Still, the USGA won’t budge.

“A game of golf is 18 holes. That’s our tradition,” Spaeth said. “There is no compelling reason to alter something that’s part and parcel of the USGA from the very beginning.”