McIlroy advocates for the novel season-ending format: a fresh start
The 2025 Tour Championship will see a significant change in format, returning to a conventional 72-hole stroke-play tournament. This decision has been made to create a level playing field for all qualifiers, as opposed to the starting strokes format that was previously used.
In the past, the starting strokes format assigned strokes to players based on their FedEx Cup rankings. This approach gave the leader a significant head start, such as Scottie Scheffler starting nine shots ahead in the 2024 Tour Championship. This advantage often made it challenging for other players to catch up, reducing the overall competitive excitement.
Rory McIlroy, a prominent figure in golf and a Masters champion, supports this format change. He finds it hard to reconcile the fact that they play stroke play for every week of the year, yet the season-ending tournament is decided by match play. McIlroy, who served on the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council (PAC), believes that this change presents a great opportunity for a player who may not have been a significant part of the season to win the big prize at the end of the year.
Tommy Fleetwood, McIlroy's Ryder Cup team-mate, also approves of the format switch. Fleetwood finds the change exciting as it means that players come to the Tour Championship with everyone on a level field, knowing it's an opportunity to have a great week and win the tournament.
The Tour officials stated that a conventional 72-hole stroke-play tournament offers the "most straightforward and engaging format." A match play format was considered but discarded due to its complexity and potential for unpredictability.
The 2025 Tour Championship will take place at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The winner will receive a $10 million winner's cheque, making it one of the most lucrative tournaments in golf.
With this change, the FedExCup playoffs will still feature a playoff structure with points quadrupled and fields reduced from 70 to 50 to 30 across the three events. However, the Tour Championship winner will be determined purely by standard stroke play without strokes added upfront.
This shift aims to enhance viewer clarity and competitiveness by having all players start equally, rather than handicapped by starting score adjustments based on standings. The removal of starting strokes returns the playoffs to a simpler and fairer format, making it more exciting for both players and fans alike.
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