Tour Championship format set for major overhaul, starting strokes to bid adieu: Reports

According to recent reports and comments by members of the PGA Tour's policy board, changes appear to once again be coming to the Tour Championship. The Tour Championship concludes the PGA Tour's season each year, ending the year-long race to the FedEx Cup title.

Adam Scott is a member of the PGA Tour's policy board and he recently suggested that the Tour Championship's format of each player starting with a certain number of strokes could well be scrapped. Before the tournament begins, each player is given a certain number of strokes based on where they rank in the FedEx Cup standings.

This has recieved some criticism, in part because it essentially takes some players out of contention before the tournamnt even begins. This format was first instituted in 2019 and now appears to be on the way out.

“I hope so. I think everybody involved wants that to be the case,” Adam Scott said regarding players starting with strokes at the Tour Championship via Golf Week.

Sam Burns is a member of the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council and he was critical of the current Tour Championship format, arguing it is confusing for fans.

“Right now, it’s a bit confusing for fans to have a tournament where we start even all year and then in our biggest tournament of the year, there are starting strokes. There’s a bit of a disconnect," Sam Burns said via Golf Week.

According to Adam Scott, the idea of having the Tour Championship be a match play format is not popular among players on the PGA Tour and would not benefit golf fans.

“It’s hard to wrap your head around you play one style all season and then your final event is an entirely different format. I think the players felt like we had match play in pro golf and there’s a reason why it doesn’t go that well. Big names go out and TV dies. It seems compelling early in the week but when Nos. 1 and 2 lose early you’re in for a long weekend and there’s also not a lot of golf," Adam Scott said.

The PGA Tour had played a longstanding match play event, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, which was scrapped after it was last played in 2023 and was won by Sam Burns. The tournament was first played in 1999.

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When will these possible changes come to the Tour Championship?

The 2024 TOUR Championship (via Getty)

With the 2025 Tour Championship only about four months away, it is likely that these proposed changes won't come until the 2026 Tour Championship. Adam Scott recently suggested via the above mentioned source that the PGA Tour may have to use 2025 as a bridge year before implementing proposed changes.

"It might be impossible to change everything this year because we can’t change points and this, that and the other so hopefully this year will be a bridge to next year. It won’t affect any player this year or leave any player high and dry by changing something late in the piece here and next year with a couple of more changes everyone will see the full picture," Adam Scott said.

Sam Burns said that the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council came to an agreement on a potentional format for the Tour Championship last week in a meeting at the RBC Heritage. Burns said he is not in discretion to publicly announce the proposed format.

The 2025 Tour Championship is set for August 21-24 at East Lake Golf Club, which has hosted the Tour Championship since 1998. The iconic venue was the home course of a young Bobby Jones in the early 1900s and has seen some of the games best players win the Tour Championship, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.