Beginning strokes will likely be eradicated from the season-ending Tour Championship, the PGA Tour introduced on Tuesday, with the 30-man playoff finale being performed as a 72-hole stroke-play event.
Gamers in previous years had been given a staggered lead based mostly on FedEx Cup season factors, with final 12 months’s winner Scottie Scheffler beginning at 10-under and ending on 30-under to beat fellow American Collin Morikawa by 4 strokes after Morikawa started on four-under.
Over 72 holes, Morikawa was 26-under and Scheffler was 20-under however the beginning strokes edge gave Scheffler the FedEx Cup playoff crown.
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The tour’s participant advisory council and coverage board authorized adjustments to the $100m (A$156m) playoff format on Tuesday that may have all gamers beginning at degree par as in a normal event.
The brand new format will likely be performed on this 12 months’s Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Membership in Atlanta from August 21 to 24.
“As we speak’s announcement is a crucial first step within the evolution of our post-season,” mentioned PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
“The Participant Advisory Council led a radical course of to reply to what our followers are asking for: Probably the most aggressive golf on this planet, performed for the very best stakes, in essentially the most simple and interesting format.”
Different adjustments to the Tour Championship embody altering course set-ups to encourage extra risk-reward selections all through every spherical to assist construct drama.
The playoff format will slim the sector to 30 golfers however the participant advisory council is finding out the qualification system with a watch to boosting the worth of season factors and holding the sector the hardest to succeed in on tour.
Different concepts are being thought of with doable bulletins coming later this 12 months.
“We wish the Tour Championship to be the toughest event to qualify for and the FedEx Cup trophy essentially the most tough to win,” world primary Scheffler mentioned.
“Shifting the Tour Championship to a extra straight-up format with a harder course set-up makes it simpler for followers to observe and offers a more difficult check for gamers — which brings out the most effective competitors.”
This 12 months’s Tour Championship will characteristic the highest 30 gamers in factors who’ve superior from two prior playoff occasions: the 70-player St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis and the 50-player BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Membership in Owings Mills, Maryland.