Changing The Championship
Let the record show, forever and ever, that the two best scores at the 2024 Tour Championship were turned in by Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala. Morikawa finished at 262, 22 shots under par, playing at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in his quest to win the most valuable trophy in golf, the FedEx Cup, worth a cool $25 million. Theegala was only one shot back at 263, or 21 under after 72 holes.
That said, neither man raised the trophy, and despite their unparalleled scores, neither one walked away with $25 million. They both got walloped by Scottie Scheffler.
Officially, Morikawa lost by four shots, and Theegala lost by six. Never mind that they both finished 72 holes in fewer shots. It was Scheffler—whose winning score was 30 under—who walked away with the top prize and the FedEx Cup. Morikawa took home $12.5 million and Theegala won $7.5 million.
How can you win but still lose? It’s because Scheffler started with a lead. For six years, the PGA Tour has had a system of rewarding the highest-ranked players in the field with a head start going into the final event of the PGA Tour playoffs, where the 30 best players compete for the FedEx Cup. The better you played throughout the year, and the playoffs, the better your score going into East Lake. Before he hit his first tee shot, Scheffler had a head start of 10 under par, more than any other player in the field. He began the tournament six shots ahead of Morikawa and seven shots ahead of Theegala. Realistically, that didn’t leave either competitor much of a chance.
That setup had no shortage of critics, one of them perhaps more notable than most.
“I didn’t love it,” Scheffler says.
The PGA Tour listened to the criticism, and the days of a head start are finally over. That championship was the last that will be played with starting strokes. Beginning with this year’s championship in late August (which was being contested after this issue went to press), each contender will start the finals at even par, just like other championships. Each player will have an equal shot at winning the Cup, and the top prize, smaller than last year’s payday (more on that later) but still the largest tournament payday in professional golf. It’s all just another sign that the game continues to evolve, part of a slew of changes surrounding the Tour Championship as well as the PGA Tour itself.
There are a host of other new changes. Starting next year, fields on the PGA Tour are going to get a bit smaller. How small? That depends on the time of year, but events held earlier in the season, before daylight saving time kicks in, will be smaller than others. The process of getting and keeping PGA Tour cards will become more difficult. Instead of 125 exempt players, which has been the standard for more than 40 years, only 100 players will be exempt going forward. The FedEx Cup points system will be tweaked as well. These changes were whispered about for some time, then got voted into place in November 2024.
Earlier this year came another big change, this one at the very top of the leadership. Embattled PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is leaving next year. In his place comes Brian Rolapp, the first person in Tour history to hold the title of chief executive officer. Rolapp spent more than 20 years at the NFL, leaving that league as executive vice president and chief media and business officer. He was widely considered a top confidant of—and potential successor to—NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, one of the most powerful leaders in global sports.
“I’ve had the privilege of working at the NFL for 20 years, which I’ve loved, and have seen a lot and have had a lot of opportunity, but this opportunity stood out,” Rolapp says. “It stood out because I think the game of golf is a global game. It is a game that has a tremendous amount of growth. I think the level of competition and tradition is unparalleled in a lot of ways, and I see a lot of opportunity.”
But even for a game steeped in tradition, change happens. It’s often good, and going back to 30 players tied at even par to decide the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup is probably going to be a move that is well-received.
The upside? It’s easy to figure out now. The low score wins.
The downside? It’s more than possible that someone who didn’t have the best or most consistent run in the playoffs winds up as FedEx Cup champion after four great days at East Lake, which has been the permanent home of the Tour Championship for 20 years.
“I think when you’re looking at a golf tournament, I think the best way to identify the best player over the course of a tournament is 72-hole stroke play on a really good golf course,” Scheffler says. “I think when you look at a good test of golf and you got to compete over four days, I think that’s the best way to crown the best winner for that week.
“I really like the direction where we’re going,” he adds. “I think the Tour Championship is going to be difficult to qualify for. Making the Tour Championship is truly going to be the results from a great body of work over the course of a season, and then you have an opportunity to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.”
Under the previous format, the 30 qualifiers for the Tour Championship—the finale of the FedEx Cup playoffs—all started somewhere between even par and 10 under. A year ago, Scheffler started at 10 under, Xander Schauffele was eight under, Hideki Matsuyama was seven under and so on. The final five played at even par.
In the era of staggered strokes, the player starting at 10 under has won three times: Dustin Johnson in 2020, Patrick Cantlay in 2021 and Scheffler last season. (He was one for three starting from the pole position, finally getting it done in 2024 after finishing tied for second in 2022 and tied for sixth in 2023.) Viktor Hovland won it in 2023 starting at eight strokes under par, Rory McIlroy won in 2019 with a five-under-head start and he won it again in 2022 starting at four under, the slimmest staggered-stroke lead that has won. In the six years of head starts, no player has ever won the Cup starting from even par.
“Sometimes it gets confusing if you do all the math,” broadcaster Mike Tirico told viewers during the airing of the third round of last year’s Tour Championship. “But if you just think you earned that start through the first part of the season, here you are and go play and decide it right here on the golf course.”
Schauffele probably wishes it was that simple.
He won the Tour Championship back in 2017, before the start of staggered scores and before winning the Championship meant also winning the FedEx Cup. Schauffele won $1.6 million for winning the Tour Championship that year, but the Cup and its big payday—then $10 million—went to Justin Thomas.
Staggered scores went into play in 2019. Schauffele had the best 72-hole score at the event in 2020, but Dustin Johnson was the winner when factoring in his head start and he claimed the FedEx Cup. In 2023, Schauffele and Viktor Hovland tied for the low 72-hole score at East Lake, leaving Hovland in the record books as a five-shot winner because of his head start thanks to staggered scores.
Had the 2025 rules been in place in 2020 or 2023, Schauffele would be at least a two-time and possibly three-time Tour champion and maybe a two-time FedEx Cup winner.
“I’ll take my wins from before,” Schauffele says, “if they redo it.” He laughed. He knows there’s no re-do coming. And he handled the news of the change like an absolute pro.
“It seems to be more aligned with sort of how other playoffs work,” Schauffele says. “Golf is really the most merit-based sport, unless I’m off my rocker here. And now East Lake and winning the Tour Championship, I think it’s the same thing. Everyone is trying to hoist that trophy and that part hasn’t changed at all. It’s just the way we’re going to go about it is a little bit different, and I think it will be easier to follow for fans now that everyone is starting at level. And, shoot, if you make it in as 30th—I made it in as 27th before—you really have a nice look at trying to win this thing.”
If the PGA Tour and golf’s powers that be could figure out a way to have every tournament decided on the 72nd hole, they would have done so by now. Golf is sport, and sport loves nothing more than drama. Giving the best players in the world a head start over the rest of the field, especially when there was a $25 million FedEx Cup bonus on the line, isn’t the best way to try and drum up an unforgettable finish.
Max Homa, a two-time Presidents Cup player and member of the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team, had a simple question: Why would fans care without drama? He said he “hated” how much the Tour Championship was tied into the bonus money under the most recent format.
“It never made a lot of sense,” Homa says. “I’m a fan of so many other sports, and I know we’re not exactly like them, but the story lines that come with the [Golden State] Warriors losing after having the best season of all time. The history of the [New England] Patriots losing to the [New York] Giants after being undefeated. . . . It’s not to take away from their season. You just got to keep earning it. So, I really like everyone starting at even. It’s still incredibly hard to make it to that final 30. It is the sign of an amazing year. If you’re there you know you should have a chance at the title, in my opinion.”
Another change: It’s going to be harder to win the thing, too.
While much of the attention when the Tour Championship format change was announced revolved around the scoring, there was this nugget in there as well: East Lake is going to be harder. The days of someone getting to 20 under or 30 under as a winning score might be over.
“In response to data indicating fans want to see winning scores closer to par, the PGA Tour Rules Committee will adjust its course setup approach to encourage more risk/reward moments throughout each round, further heightening the drama and competition to determine the FedEx Cup champion,” the tour said last year.
And here’s another big change: The days of the $25 million bonus for winning the title are gone as well, which means Scheffler’s amazing $62 million season in 2024 (including the FedEx Cup bonus) might not be matched anytime soon. The bonus structure for 2025 has been tweaked “to account for the increased volatility, reward season-long performance and recognize the significance of the FedEx Cup,” the Tour said.
This year’s champion at East Lake will win $10 million. While that figure is down considerably from last year it remains the largest single payday in the sport. And the same player who walks away with the $10 million can win another $15 million in bonuses; there’s $10 million going to the player who leads the standings entering the FedEx Cup playoffs and another $5 million for the player who leads the playoffs entering the Tour Championship. So, in short, instead of one lump-sum payout, there are three payouts on the way to the end of the Tour Championship.
In other words, there won’t be as steep of a drop-off in terms of the season’s final check. And players like Morikawa and Theegala will almost certainly never have to look at another leaderboard and wonder how beating somebody over 72 holes leads to a $12.5 million or $17.5 million difference in their payout.
“Golf’s so hard to put in a playoff aspect because people can go on runs. You could be the best player in January or February and not be the best player in July or August,” Morikawa says. “But for us, making that Tour Championship is very important. Every year. No matter how you play, when you look back and you say you made the Tour Championship, no matter what your goals are . . . you’re like, ‘OK, we’re doing something right.’
“Now, like every other sport, you have a chance to win essentially your championship. And that’s what you get here. . . . I love it because it’s one tournament, you want to be there, and you want to win it.”
