ATLANTA – The Tour Championship is officially changing in 2028.
In the first year that the Tour will move to a Championship and Challenger Series format, the Tour will shift to a 90-man field for a stroke-play event to determine the season-long points winner. Only 32 will move on to a two-week match-play competition at rotating venues for the newly christened Tour Championship.
The PGA Tour Championship Series Finale is the final 72-hole, stroke-play event of the season and consisting of the 90 players who retain their cards for the following season. It finalizes the season-long points list, recognizes the season-long winner and sets the field of 32 for the Tour Championship.
A separate,
standalone event, the first week of the Tour Championship will include World Cup-style group play, with the 32 qualifiers broken into eight groups of fours for three rounds of match play. The top two will advance to the final week, with ties decided in a sudden-death playoff.
The finale will be held at a separate venue. Week 2 is four rounds of match play. All 16 players will compete in all four rounds. Every match impacts the final standings with records across all four rounds determining the final championship standings. Players advance through the bracket based on their win-loss record, with the final two undefeated players battling to be crowned champion. This marks the first time match play will be featured in the Tour’s postseason, and first time the format has been contested on Tour since the 2023 WGC-Match Play.
"Throughout this process, we listened carefully to our fans, players and partners," PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said in a press release. "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."
With a compact field and unique format, the Tour Championship will rotate annually among prestigious venues, including courses the modern Tour has not traditionally been able to feature.
“This new format creates an exciting opportunity to showcase some of the most renowned venues in our sport, including places the modern Tour has never been before,” the Tour said. “Since our announcement in June, we have received a tremendous level of interest from prospective host venues. As a result, multiple discussions are underway, site visits have begun and we are encouraged by the enthusiasm we are seeing for the future of the Tour Championship.”
Rolapp announced in March that match play was being considered for the format of the Tour Championship, which has undergone several changes during the 20-year FedEx Cup era. What has long been expected will be confirmed later this morning at PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp’s annual State of the Tour press conference at 10 a.m.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: PGA Tour Championship format will be 2-week, match-play event in 2028
