The new Tour Championship format for the 2028 season, announced on Aug. 25 by Commissioner Brian Rolapp at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, will feature 32 players drawn from the final FedEx Cup points standings split up in eight match-play pools at one venue, leading to 16 players converging at another site for a championship.
The round-robin matches will be played at one venue and the next round of matches leading to the final two will be at another. Venues will be rotated.
What, exactly, will that look like?
David Dusek of Golfweek mapped it out. Using the FedEx Cup points standings through last week's BMW Championship and seeding the players within groups, here are what the pools would look like if the format was in play this year:
- Group A: 1. Scottie Scheffler, 16. Hideki Matsuyama, 17. Ryan Gerard 32. J.T. Poston.
- Group B: 4. Cameron Young, 13. Jacob Bridgeman, 20. Kristoffer Reitan, 29. Tom Kim.
- Group C: 5. Si Woo Kim, 12. Xander Schauffele, 21. Min Woo Lee, 28. Adam Scott.
- Group D: 8. Sam Burns, 9. Tommy Fleetwood, 24. Alex Fitzpatrick, 25. Robert MacIntyre.
- Group E: 7. Collin Morikawa, 10. Ludvig Åberg, 23. Alex Smalley, 26. Viktor Hovland.
- Group F: 6. Chris Gotterup, 11. Rory McIlroy, 22. J.J. Spaun, 27. Justin Rose.
- Group G: 3. Wyndham Clark, 14. Russell Henley, 19. Patrick Cantlay, 30. Ryan Fox.
- Group H: 2. Matt Fitzpatrick, 15. Akshay Bhatia, 18. Gary Woodland, 31. Kurt Kitayama.
A few
thoughts:
First of all, Poston and Kitayama would make the post-season instead of being left out. The current format has the top-30 playing in stroke play at East Lake, beginning on Aug. 37.
The top two players in each pool advance, so one loss doesn't knock anyone out. Ties will be broken in sudden death playoffs. But what of the players who lose two matches out of the gate? Their third match will be against a player needing to win to advance, so one hopes the player with no shot still gives it a competitive effort (there is a Tour rule that requires players to give their best effort in competition).
Based on the above matchups, golf fans should love matches between Scheffler vs. Matsuyama, Fleetwood vs. Burns, Morikawa vs. Aberg, Gotterup vs. McIlroy, Clark vs. Fox or Fitzpatrick vs. Woodland.
Some could be Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup rematches. But it also could match European Ryder Cup players vs. International Presidents Cup players, something not possible since the demise of the WGC Match Play. Would anyone love seeing Matsuyama vs. McIlroy? Fox vs. Fleetwood? Si Woo Kim vs. MacIntyre?
Rolapp thinks fans will.
"Throughout this process, we listened carefully to our fans, players and partners," he said in statement issued before the news conference. "One message came through clearly: the culmination of our season should be worthy of the journey it takes to get there. The result is a season-ending structure that rewards excellence over the course of the year while building toward a reimagined Tour Championship. We are creating something different, something distinct within professional golf that can resonate far beyond it."
PGA Tour joins with LeBron James
Overshadowed by the news of the PGA Tour's new Tour Championship format was the news that the Tour and the LeBron James Family Foundation announced a partnership that will be highlighted by the inaugural LeBron James Family Foundation Invitational at Firestone Country Club, July 6-7, 2027.
The tournament will be the centerpiece of a series of "integrated initiatives" will combine professional golf with youth engagement and fundraising to create community impact in LeBron James' hometown of Akron. The two-day event will include off-course mentorship programs that connect students in the LeBron James Family Foundation’s "I PROMISE" program with professional golfers who advanced through the PGA Tour's Pathway to Progression Pro-Bound Five program.
Additionally, competitions featuring amateurs as well as professionals from the Pro-Bound Five program will take place on Firestone Country Club’s South Course, adding another chapter to the Tour’s decades-long presence in Akron.
The LeBron James Family Foundation I PROMISE program serves Akron-area students and their families by providing them with the programs, support and resources they need to succeed in school and beyond. In partnership with the PGA Tour, the Invitational will introduce young people to the game through meaningful community programming while also creating opportunities for aspiring professional golfers.
"Golf has become a passion of mine, and I've seen firsthand how the game can open doors, build relationships and create opportunities that many kids don’t even know exist,” James said in a statement. “This partnership with the PGA Tour gives my Foundation a chance to introduce my I Promise students and more people to the game at a young age, support talented athletes chasing their dreams, and continue investing in the city of Akron that means everything to me."
Tour, Coca-Cola continue HBCU program
The PGA Tour and Coca-Cola has renewed its joint sponsorship of the HBCU Golf Impact Grant program which provides funding to men's and women's golf teams at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Coca-Cola has pledged $250,000 for the initiative that seeks to grow playing opportunties and inclusion in golf through the theme, "The World is My Yard." The collaboration is part of the PGA Tour’s Pathway to Progression initiative, designed to support the identification and development of junior and collegiate golfers from historically underrepresented communities.
This year’s eligible Coca-Cola HBCU partner institutions included 10 schools and 16 golf programs, an increase from last year. Each program received a grant of $11,250.
The closest HBCU institution to the First Coast that is involved in the program is Savannah State.
PGA Tour
Event: Tour Championship, Aug. 27-30, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta.
Purse: $40 million ($10 million to the winner).
Defending champion: Tommy Fleetwood
TV: ESPN (Aug. 27-28, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.); Golf Channel (Aug. 27-28, 1-6 p.m., Aug. 29, 1-3 p.m., Aug. 30,
Area player: Ludvig Aberg.
LPGA
Event: LM Championship, Aug. 27-30, TPC Boston, Norton, Mass.
Purse: $4.4 million ($660,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Miranda Wang.
Area players: Auston Kim, Chella Choi, Jessica Porvasnik.
TV: Golf Channel (Aug. 27-28, 9-12 p.m.; Aug. 29, 3-7 p.m.; Aug. 30, 1:30-4 p.m.).
PGA Tour Champions
Event: Ally Championship, Aug. 28-30, Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club, Grand Blanc, Mich.
Purse: $2.2 million ($330,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Stewart Cink.
Area players: David Duval, Fred Funk, Zach Johnson, Vijay Singh.
TV: Golf Channel (Aug. 28, 7-9 p.m.; Aug. 29, 8-10 p.m.; Aug. 30, 4-6 p.m.).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Tour Championship will be match play in 2028. What will that look like?
