The PGA Tour is reportedly considering implementing a bracket-style format for the season-ending Tour Championship. Recently, The Athletic reported that the PGA Tour is in advanced talks to introduce changes to the format for the final FedEx Cup Playoffs event.
In the new format, players will reportedly compete in a bracket-style tournament, with some players receiving byes in the early rounds. The report suggests that this bracket format will feature head-to-head matchups in either stroke play or match play.
Bracket-format tournaments involve players competing in direct head-to-head matches, with teams or players getting byes in early rounds. If implemented, the Tour Championship may shift to this format, offering either match play or stroke play, with players receiving byes in certain rounds.
In the Match Play format, golfers' scores are counted on a per-hole basis. It is a head-to-head format where two players or teams compete, and the one who completes the hole in fewer strokes wins that particular hole. In a round or match, the player or team that wins the most holes is declared the winner of the match or round.
Meanwhile, the Stroke Play format is one of the most popular formats in golf. In this format, the total number of strokes taken over 18 holes in a round (or more rounds) determines the player's score and the lowest score wins.
What is the current format of the Tour Championship?
Under the current format, players receive starting strokes based on their rankings in the FedEx Cup standings. For instance, the player ranked first enters the Tour Championship with an initial score of 10-under-par, while the starting scores decrease for lower-ranked players. This staggered-start format has been in place since 2019.
However, the tournament takes place in a stroke play format and consists of four rounds. There is no cut line. Moreover, the players' scores in these four rounds are added to their starting scores. The winner of the tournament is the player who tops the leaderboard after the final round, which includes both the actual gross score of the tournament and the starting scores.
In 2024, Scottie Scheffler topped the FedEx Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship, starting the event with a score of 10-under. Interestingly, Scheffler went on to win the season-ending event.
Here is the starting score for the 2024 Tour Championship:
- 10 under: Scottie Scheffler
- 8 under: Xander Schauffele
- 7 under: Hideki Matusyama
- 6 under: Keegan Bradley
- 5 under: Ludvig Aberg
- 4 under: Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay
- 3 under: Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala, Shane Lowry, Adam Scott, Tony Finau
- 2 under: Byeong Hun An, Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley, Akshay Bhatia, Robert MacIntyre
- 1 under: Billy Horschel, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Matthieu Pavon, Taylor Pendrith
- Even: Chris Kirk, Tom Hoge, Aaron Rai, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Justin Thomas