McIlroy Reflects on Format Change at Tour Championship
The Masters champion, Rory McIlroy, has expressed his opinion on the format change in the Tour Championship, a key tournament on the golf circuit. Unlike many PGA Tour golfers, McIlroy was not a detractor of the format used at the Tour Championship for the last six seasons, where players started with strokes of advantage based on their position in the FedEx Cup standings. This format, implemented in 2019, gave the FedEx Cup points leader an initial advantage of 10 strokes under par, with the rest of the players starting with fewer strokes. Scottie Scheffler, who won his first FedEx Cup under this format in 2024, even called it “silly”. This year, the 30 golfers will compete in a traditional 72-hole tournament, all starting at par.McIlroy also noted that, considering Scheffler’s excellent performance this season, including five victories and his third and fourth majors at the PGA Championship and The Open, a two-stroke lead probably wouldn’t have been enough. The PGA Tour has reallocated its bonus pool to reward golfers with good performance in the regular season. Scheffler has already accumulated $23 million in bonuses this year. In this year’s Tour Championship, there are $40 million at stake, including $10 million for the winner. Scheffler will seek to become the first back-to-back FedEx Cup winner.“Maybe I’m part of the minority. I didn’t hate the starting strokes. I thought the player who had played the best during the season should have had an advantage coming here. But most people just didn’t like the starting strokes, whether they were players or fans,” McIlroy commented.
Rory McIlroy
When the PGA Tour announced the changes in May, it was stated that the goal was to make the Tour Championship the “most difficult tournament to qualify for” and the FedEx Cup trophy “the most difficult to win.” Justin Thomas, 2017 FedEx Cup champion, commented that the elimination of the starting strokes gives more golfers the opportunity to win. The PGA Tour has described this season’s Tour Championship as a “bridge year,” suggesting that more changes could be coming. The tour has explored the possibility of rotating the tournament to other golf courses, as well as a match play format to determine the season champion. McIlroy mentioned that a match play format was considered, but it was ruled out for this year, although it could be reconsidered in the future.“I’m sure everyone, apart from Scottie Scheffler, loves the fact that we all start on a level playing field,” said Tommy Fleetwood.
Tommy Fleetwood
