PGA Tour Announces New Format For Season-Ending Tour Championship

The PGA Tour is changing the format to its season-ending Tour Championship, which is dropping the controversial “starting strokes” system that has been in place since 2019 despite the pushback from players and fans.

At the season-ending event at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, all 30 players who qualify for the tournament will have a chance to win the Tour Championship and thus the FedEx Cup by winning the tournament.

There is no advantage for players based on their FedEx Cup points going into the event. Starting in 2019, the tournament saw the leader start at -10 with second-place starting at -8 and going down to even par for the last five players in the field.

The Tour has vowed to make East Lake a more stringent test as the change was approved Tuesday by the PGA Tour Policy Board.

“We want the Tour Championship to be the hardest tournament to qualify for and the FedEx Cup trophy the most difficult to win,” said reigning FedEx Cup champion Scottie Scheffler in a statement released by the Tour. “Shifting the Tour Championship to a more straight-up format with a tougher course setup makes it easier for fans to follow and provides a more challenging test for players–which brings out the best competition.”

The FedEx Cup bonus structure will likely change, although the Tour has yet to announce what the changes will be.

Last year, the bonus pool for the FedEx Cup was $100 million, with $25 million going to the winner and $7.5 million to second place. The bonus money is expected to be altered to reward season-long play as well as the significance of the FedEx Cup.

The Tour surveyed fans last year as part of its Fan Forward initiative and got considerable feedback on the FedEx Cup format. Players were also heavily involved in the issue.

“Our Fan Forward initiative has helped us evaluate each part of the PGA Tour season and today’s announcement is an important first step in the evaluation of our postseason,” commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “The Player Advisory Council led a thorough process to respond to what our fans are asking for: the most competitive golf in the world, played for the highest stakes, in the most straightforward and engaging format.”