Why Tour Championship Changes Are Still Not Quite Right

Will the PGA Tour ever get it right? There has been much mutual back-slapping these past few days over the decision to scrap the ludicrous head start that the FedEx Cup leader received at the Tour Championship.

It always seemed slightly nonsensical to me that in a field of 30 players one man should start the week at 10 under par, the player in second would start on eight under, third on seven under, fourth on six under and fifth on five under. The remaining 25 players would be split into groups of five and given their starting score based off their rank.

The players hated it, the fans hated it and the sponsors hated it because it meant that there was no guarantee that the man with the lowest gross score would win. In fact, that rarely ever happened.

Featured Content

So for this year two changes are being made - the 30 golfers who qualify for East Lake will all start on a level playing field and the course is going to be made more difficult.

And what is the problem with all of that? The decision has been made that whoever wins the Tour Championship will be crowned FedEx Cup winner and will collect much gold. 

On the face of it, that may make sense but one of my issues with it is that the golfer who starts the week in 30th and last place could win the tournament and walk away with the title. I always believed that the whole point of the FedEx Cup was that it is a season-long competition designed to reward the year’s best golfer.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said: "The Players 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."

Scottie Scheffler won the Tour Championship in 2024, finishing four shots ahead of Collin Morikawa - even though Morikawa completed the 72 holes in two shots fewer than his rival. To his credit, Scheffler branded the entire format as "silly". 

He has welcomed the change in format. The world number one said: "Shifting the Tour Championship to a more straight-up format with a tougher course set-up makes it easier for fans to follow and provides a more challenging test for players, which brings out the best competition."

He also had this to say: "I don't compete for the financial benefit at the end, I care much more about winning the Tour Championship than I do winning the money for the Tour Championship."

That is easy to say when you have won as many tournaments and banked as much money as Scheffler has over the past three years or so.

Over the years, there have been many changes to the format. I suppose this is the closest they have got to coming up with an equitable system, but wouldn’t it make more sense to award cumulative points for all the playoff events (FedEx St Jude Classic and BMW Championship), including the Tour Championship? 

My problem with the change is that a golfer could win both the FedEx St Jude and the BMW Championship and then finish second at East Lake and NOT be crowned FedEx champion. And to my way of thinking, that makes no sense whatsoever.

Not that Scheffler agrees. "You look at the Patriots, they won 18 games one year and they lost the 19th and it looks like a failure for a season. Now, they had a great year but they didn't win the Super Bowl. At the end of the day you have to perform when it matters the most.

"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."

I have actually struggled to engage with the Tour Championship in recent years because, in my mind, the player who shoots lowest gross score should always pick up the trophy. This year will be different. These tweaks are a move in the right direction - all I am saying is that they still have not got it right.