The PGA Tour has overhauled the Tour Championship format after nearly 40 years of complex scoring methods, creating a straightforward contest this week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. The top 30 players from the season will now compete on equal footing over four rounds of stroke play, vying for a staggering $10 million winner’s prize from a total payout of $155 million spread across the field.
This change discards the controversial starting strokes system, which was in place from 2019 through last year’s tournament won by Scottie Scheffler, eliminating the uneven head starts previously awarded to players based on season performance. The new setup means the winner of the Tour Championship will also automatically claim the FedEx Cup, simplifying the stakes to a direct
“win this week, win it all”
scenario.
Equal Opportunity Sparks New Possibilities for Competitors
The reset has intensified competition, as players without a season win—such as Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, Shane Lowry, Colin Morikawa, and Patrick Cantlay—now have an open shot at the biggest prize. Unlike the prior format that granted advantages based on season points, this change transforms the Tour Championship into an event resembling a major, where every competitor begins on an equal footing, demanding peak performance over the event’s four days.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who dominated the season with five victories and 15 top-ten finishes in 18 starts, would have greatly benefited from the previous system due to his commanding points lead. Under the old format, his position would have been nearly unassailable. Now, Scheffler faces the challenge of performing his best golf amid forecasted thunderstorms at East Lake, as the tournament doubles as the season finale and could define the year’s top accolade.
Top Players Reflect on the New Format and Its Impact
“At the end of the day you have to perform when it matters the most,”
Scheffler said.
I think now with the format we have, we have a great format of a 72-hole golf tournament.
If I want to win the FedExCup, I have to play well at the last week of the season, and it’s just simple as that.
—Scottie Scheffler, FedEx Cup Champion
Tommy Fleetwood, who has endured a challenging year despite multiple close calls, described the atmosphere among players this week as perhaps the most electric yet, with everyone starting equally and grasping a rare chance to capture the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup simultaneously.
“It’s probably more exciting for the players to come here, everybody on a level field, knowing it’s an unbelievable opportunity to have a great week, win the tournament and leave here unbelievably happy,”
Fleetwood shared.
“I think it would be pretty funny if I won this week and then got the FedExCup as well,”
he added.
I think that would be funny.
Fleetwood’s optimism comes after a season without a PGA Tour victory, despite leading after 54 holes in multiple events and winning tournaments internationally.
Rory McIlroy, Fleetwood’s European Ryder Cup teammate and a Masters champion, aims to claim his fourth Tour Championship title, surpassing Tiger Woods’ record. His season also includes victories at The Players Championship and the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, completing his career grand slam. McIlroy emphasized how the new format injects a fresh dynamic into the event.
“It has a different feel,”
McIlroy noted.
“Any one of the 30 has a chance to win the FedExCup this year, which is obviously a lot different than it’s been in previous years. It’s a clean slate for everyone, and it’s a great opportunity for one of the guys that maybe wasn’t a huge part of the season to put their hand up and have a chance to win the big prize at the end of the year.”
“It’s also a great opportunity for some of the guys that have had great years to sort of rubber stamp the season a little bit and end on a really, really positive note. I think there’s still a lot to play for this week.”
—Rory McIlroy, PGA Tour Star
Players Voice Opinions Against Match Play for Season Finale
Although Ryder Cup-style match play has been suggested as a thrilling alternative for the Tour Championship, most players remain opposed to the idea. McIlroy noted the reluctance stems from the season-long stroke play format in place and questioned the logic of switching to match play for the final tournament.
“Match play was on the table, and that got canned for this year,”
McIlroy explained.
I think it’s just hard for the players to reconcile that we play stroke play for every week of the year but then the season-ending tournament is going to be decided by match play.
Scottie Scheffler vocalized his skepticism about altering the format to match play.
“People have tossed around a lot of different formats for this tournament, and I think a lot of talk — there’s a lot of talk about match play and stuff like that,”
Scheffler said.
The reality is we’ve had a match play tournament for a number of years. We had a match play tournament for four or five years in one of the biggest growing markets in the country, and that tournament still didn’t succeed.
I don’t think match play is the best way to crown a season-long champion, and I think changing the format for your last tournament is kind of quite silly.
People love the comparisons to other sports, but golf is simply not like other sports. I’m just going to leave it at that.
—Scottie Scheffler, World No. 1 Golf Player
Historic Absence of Australian Players and Broadcast Details
This year’s tournament marks an unfortunate milestone with no Australian player qualifying for the event, the first such occurrence since 1998. Jason Day, despite ranking within the top 50, failed to secure a spot in the final 30 after missing qualification at the BMW Championship last week.
Golf fans can catch every round live and exclusively on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo Sports, with new Kayo subscribers receiving promotional offers. The broadcast begins early Friday morning and continues daily through Monday.
Featured group times start as early as 1:15 a.m. AEST on Friday, with full rounds extending through the mornings each day. Key tee times for the first round include Chris Gotterup and Akshay Bhatia at 1:16 a.m., concluding with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy scheduled at 4 a.m.
Prize Money Breakdown Highlights Stakes for Competitors
With $155 million in total prize money at stake, the financial rewards reflect the tournament‘s heightened intensity. The champion will earn $10 million, with decreasing amounts awarded down to $355,000 for the 30th-place finisher. The next highest payouts include $5 million for second place and $3.7 million for third.
This substantial purse emphasizes not only the prestige but also the immense pressure on all thirty competitors to deliver their strongest performance of the year.