The Tour Championship is broken – only introducing a match play system will fix the PGA Tour season finale.
That’s the view of golf fans across the globe who have had their say on what should happen for the annual event ahead of the first round later on Thursday at East Lake Golf Club.
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Scottie Scheffler won the Fedex Cup last season as he triumphed at the Tour Championship
The Tour Championship is the final event of the FedEx Cup play-offs, with only the top 30 players in the money rankings eligible to compete.
And the person that comes out on top takes home a whopping $10million.
For the last six seasons, the FedEx Cup leader coming into the tournament started at ten under par – two shots ahead of the second ranked player.
The No. 3 player started at seven under, with the No.4 kicking off their opening round at -6, with the No. 5 starting at five under.
Players ranked six-ten started at four under, with those in the standings at 11-15 three under, players 16-20 at -2, players 21-25 at one under and golf stars ranked 26-30 starting at even par.
That format has been scrapped for the 2025 event, with all players starting at even par, with defending champion and FedEx Cup points leader Scottie Scheffler no longer given any advantage.
The PGA Tour have since come under scrutiny over their decision to scrap FedEx Cup points being carried over and instead making the Tour Championship a winner-takes-all event.
It essentially renders the rest of the season irrelevant, beyond determining the top 30 players for the field.
Many fans have protested for match play to be introduced, which would see the top eight seeds awarded first-round byes, with players going head-to head hole by hole, with the winner then advancing to the next round until there are two golfers standing.
What have fans said about the Tour Championship?
Desperate fans have pleaded on social media for that to happen, with one X user writing: “The Tour Championship should be match play format.”
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Rory McIlroy is the record three-time winner of the FedEx CupCredit: Getty
Another commented: “Tour championship should be played in match play format, change my mind.”
A third added: “The Tour likes stroke play events as they are better TV products, but can’t help but think that the Tour Championship would be a lot better served as the ‘Season-Long’ race if it were structured as a match play tournament.”
This fan then remarked: “Match play is fun and different and the Tour Championship is lame.”
Meanwhile one fan proposed: “Tour Championship new format is so stupid. Regular season means nothing now.
“They should expand it from 30 to 32 players and do match play with everyone seeded by their ranking. It’s not that hard PGA Tour.”
And this user simply stated: “Tour Championship format is stupid. Always has been. 32 person match play is the only answer.”
While fans are pining for a radical system change, Scheffler and record FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy aren’t sure a match play format is the best scenario.
TOUR Champioship prize money
Win: $10,000,000
2: $5,000,000
3: $3,705,000
4: $3,200,000
5: $2,750,000
6: $1,900,000
7: $1,400,000
8: $1,065,000
9: $900,000
10: $735,000
11: $695,000
12: $660,000
13: $625,000
14: $590,000
15: $560,000
16: $505,000
17: $490,000
18: $475,000
19: $460,000
20: $445,000
21: $430,000
22: $415,000
23: $400,000
24: $390,000
25: $380,000
26: $375,000
27: $370,000
28: $365,000
29: $360,000
30: $355,000
What have Scheffler and McIlroy said about the Tour Championship?
McIlroy insisted that discussions for match play to be introduced did take place, though he ultimately didn’t believe that it’s the right option to evolve the Tour Championship.
He said: “Look, there was a lot of other stuff on the table. Match play was on the table, and that got canned for this year.
“That might be brought back up in the conversation for next year or the year after.
“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.
“I think it was just hard for the players to get their heads around that.”
McIlroy added: “I don’t know, maybe that will be on the table again, who knows.
“Yeah, look, it’s a 72-hole stroke-play event, and that’s what we play week in and week out. That’s what’s going to determine the winner.”
As for world number one Scheffler, the American echoed McIlroy’s views that match play isn’t the way forward, branding the suggestion as ‘silly’.
He remarked: “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.
“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.”