PGA Tour Announces New Format for Season-Ending Tour Championship

The often-criticized “starting strokes” format is being dropped for a regular stroke-play format which will give all 30 players an equal chance to win the FedEx Cup.

The Tour Championship will have all 30 players start the tournament on equal footing beginning this year. / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

DUBLIN, Ohio — After considerable pushback from players and fans, the PGA Tour is changing the format to its season-ending Tour Championship, dropping the controversial “starting strokes” system that has been in place since 2019.

At the season-ending event at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, all 30 players who qualify for the tournament will have a chance to win the Tour Championship and thus the FedEx Cup by winning the tournament.

Gone is any advantage that players had received based on their FedEx Cup points going into the event. Starting in 2019, the tournament saw the leader start at -10 with second-place starting at -8 and going down to even par for the last five players into the field.

Thus, a player who shot the lowest 72-hole score over the entire tournament might not always win the FedEx Cup.

The change was approved Tuesday by the PGA Tour Policy Board, which met at the Memorial Tournament.

As part of the new system, the Tour has vowed to make East Lake a more stringent test.

“We want the Tour Championship to be the hardest tournament to qualify for and the FedEx Cup trophy the most difficult to win,’’ said reigning FedEx Cup champion Scottie Scheffler in a statement released by the Tour. “Shifting the Tour Championship to a more straight-up format with a tougher course setup makes it easier for fans to follow and provides a more challenging test for players—which brings out the best competition.”

The FedEx Cup bonus structure will likely undergo a change, although the Tour has yet to announce what it will be.

Last year, the bonus pool for the FedEx Cup was $100 million, with $25 million going to the winner and $7.5 million to second place. The bonus money is expected to be altered to reward season-long play as well as the significance of the FedEx Cup.

It could be that the top performers through the BMW Championship—the second playoff event that precedes the Tour Championship—are compensated based on the final point standings with a separate purse put in place for the Tour Championship.

Last year, the Tour surveyed fans as part of its Fan Forward initiative and got considerable feedback on the FedEx Cup format. Players were also heavily involved in the issue.

“Our Fan Forward initiative has helped us evaluate each part of the PGA Tour season and today’s announcement is an important first step in the evolution of our postseason,” commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “The Player 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.”

It is possible the format changes again for 2026.