Aug 25 (Reuters) – The PGA Tour’s best players will compete in match play to determine a Tour Champion starting in 2028 as part of a new season-ending structure announced on Tuesday.
The new format will be played out over three weeks, starting with the 72-hole stroke play PGA Tour Championship Series Finale featuring the top 90 golfers on the year’s points list to find the season-long winner and set the Tour Championship field.
At the conclusion of the Series Finale, the top 32 players will move on to the new-look Tour Championship that will feature match play contested over two weeks at different venues.
This marks a dramatic shift from the current format, a series of three traditional stroke play events featuring a progressive cut with fields of 70, 50 and 30 players.
In announcing the changes, the PGA Tour said the goal of the Future Competition Committee, a nine-member group chaired by Tiger Woods, was to create an easier-to-follow competitive model for fans with greater consequence and a stronger season-long narrative.
“The result is a season-ending structure that rewards excellence over the course of the year while building toward a reimagined Tour Championship,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said in a press release.
“We are creating something different, something distinct within professional golf that can resonate far beyond it.”
The Tour Championship will begin with 32 players competing in match play against the three other golfers in their group. The top two from each of the eight groups advance to Week 2 of the Tour Championship.
The championship will culminate in a four-round, 16-man single-elimination bracket with the final two undefeated golfers battling to be crowned Tour Champion.
The changes to the season-ending structure built on the recommendations approved in June when the PGA Tour announced a promotion and relegation model starting in 2028 featuring a Championship Series and Challenger Series.
“The conclusion of the season should be worthy of the journey it takes to get there. Today’s announcement is a result of the hard work and passion of our players,” Woods wrote on X. “Excited to usher in a new era of match play on the @PGATOUR”.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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