The PGA Tour has announced that the Tour Championship will be played in a two-week matchplay format as part of a new season-ending structure which will be implemented from the 2028 season.
PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp announced the plans on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.
From 2028 onwards, the current series of FedExCup Playoffs, which are played in a stroke play format, will be replaced by a 72-hole stroke play PGA Tour Championship Series Finale featuring the top 90 golfers on the PGA Tour season-long points list.
GROUP STAGES & KNOCKOUT MATCHES
The top 32 players on the PGA Tour’s points list at the end of the PGA Tour Championship Series Finale will qualify for the Tour Championship, a standalone two-week match play event. The match play tournament will involve eight groups of four who will play three round robin matches to qualify for the knockout stage.
It will be the first time in the PGA Tour’s history that the Tour Championship has been decided over a match play format and is also the first time that the format has been played on the tour since the 2023 WGC Dell Technologies Match Play.
When asked for his reaction to the changes, Rory McIlroy said: “It’s certainly different. Two weeks, two different venues, but it’s cool. I think they’ve taken a big swing, and conceptually, I think I really like it.”
He added: “I think what the Tour are really trying to do is listen to the fans and what they want, and I think this idea of matchplay over two weeks is something that came mostly from what the people that watch golf wanted, so I think that’s a really good thing.”
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