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Brian Rolapp is fearlessly steering the tour in a new direction (Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
ATLANTA — After a 21-year run that has seen various points iterations, bonus pool computations and starting-stroke schemes, the PGA Tour will scrap its current FedEx Cup postseason after next year in favor of a new three-week season-ending structure that will include a 90-player stroke-play finale followed by a two-week match-play tournament that will serve as the new Tour Championship.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has previously hinted at the change and made it official on Tuesday at East Lake Golf Club, where the tour’s season-ending event with 30 players beginning Thursday is going to look considerably different than the future.
Instead of three season-ending “playoff” tournaments that has been the structure since 2019 (there were originally four events going back to the FedEx Cup’s inception in 2007), there will be a PGA Tour Championship Series Finale — likely to be the BMW Championship — where the top 90 players on a season-long points list will qualify and determine the season-long winner.
The Championship Series Finale event will also set the field for the new stand-alone Tour Championship — a two-week match-play event that will pit the top 32 season-long points earners in round-robin group play the first week and send the top two players from all eight groups to a first-of-its-kind, four-round, match-play bracket Tour Championship finale the second week at a different venue.
All 16 players will compete in all four rounds, with players advancing through the bracket based on their win-loss record. The final two undefeated players will face each other with the winner crowned the Tour champion with player records across all four rounds determining the final championship standings.
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“Each week of the Tour Championship will be played at a different course,” Rolapp said. “This new format creates an exciting opportunity to showcase some of the most renowned venues in our sport, including places the modern tour has never been before.
“Since our announcement in June, we have received a tremendous level of interest from prospective host venues. As a result, multiple discussions are under way, site visits have begun, and we are encouraged by the enthusiasm we are seeing for the future of the Tour Championship.”
Rolapp didn’t disclose any venues, but speculation has centered around such places as Cypress Point, Bandon Dunes, Chicago Golf Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Pine Valley and other courses that might be willing and able to host a more intimate tournament with a small field and limited spectators.
He said an announcement on specifics would be forthcoming next February.
One thing appears clear: East Lake, the home to the Tour Championship every year since 2004, will no longer be an anchor and might only occasionally host the event.
