Golf’s season-ending Tour Championship may very well be held underneath a bracket-type competitors involving stroke and match play because the PGA Tour seems to be at choices to enhance its playoff format, a supply confirmed to ESPN on Friday.
Adjusting the format to the Tour Championship is amongst a handful of potential adjustments into account, the supply stated, including that “the whole lot is on the desk.”
Any adjustments would finally require PGA Tour board approval.
“I would prefer to see one thing the gamers are enthusiastic about and the followers are enthusiastic about,” stated Patrick Cantlay, one in all six gamers on the board. “There was some talks round it, however nothing definitive.”
The Tour Championship is the ultimate occasion of the three-tournament FedEx Cup Playoffs, with 30 gamers advancing to play for the $25 million year-end prime prize that Scottie Scheffler gained in 2024.
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Underneath the present format, the top-ranked gamers within the FedEx Cup standings enter the Tour Championship with a scoring benefit. Although that may be simply two strokes for the top-ranked golfer over No. 2, a format Scheffler challenged as “foolish” in August.
“You’ll be able to’t name it a seasonlong race and have it come down to at least one match,” Scheffler stated. “Hypothetically, we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it does not heal the way in which it did on the Gamers. I end thirtieth within the FedEx Cup as a result of I needed to withdraw from the final match? Is that actually the seasonlong race? No, it’s what it’s.”
Rory McIlroy, then again, stated final season that he favored the way in which issues had been, although he acknowledged it won’t be one of the simplest ways to find out the perfect golfer over the course of a season.
“I really like this format as a result of if it wasn’t this format, then none of us would have an opportunity in opposition to Scottie as a result of he is thus far forward,” McIlroy stated. “So I actually like this format.”
Any adjustments might start as early because the 2025 season. The Tour Championship is ready for Aug. 21-24 at East Lake Golf Membership in Atlanta.
The Athletic first reported on the potential adjustments to the Tour Championship, with sources calling them “superior discussions.”
Adam Scott, who additionally serves on board, urged warning when it got here to what he known as a “legacy” occasion, which he considers the Tour Championship. He gained it in 2006 the primary week of November. The FedEx Cup started the subsequent yr. He stated the Tour Championship has “form of gotten misplaced within the wash” due to so many iterations since 2007.
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley described the present format as “clunky.” The concept of some type of head-to-head competitors obtained his consideration.
“I feel that will be actually attention-grabbing, as a result of the strain you’re feeling on the Tour Championship … if you are going to win the FedEx Cup and win no matter amount of cash is at stake, that is actual strain,” Bradley stated. “So to observe two guys exit and play for it could be fairly cool.”
Tony Finau stated he felt head-to-head can be misplaced with a lot using on the end result.
“To place all of the chips on the desk for match play, I feel that will be the fallacious transfer,” he stated. “We play too many stroke-play occasions, and we do not even have one match play. I get that would create extra drama, possibly one thing head-to-head. As a participant, I do not see how that will be probably the most honest. Regardless of the format is, there’s some huge cash on the finish.”
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, The Related Press and Discipline Stage Media contributed to this report.
