The PGA TOUR’s ‘Super Bowl’ Will Never Be the Same

The PGA TOUR’s “Super Bowl” is very likely the TOUR Championship, as it brings only the best players to crown the winner of the FedEx Cup and cap off the long season.

But, unlike the Super Bowl, the TOUR Championship had a lot of things wrong with it: the staggered start, the same location each year, and a format that just seemed to be less-than-ideal for what is supposed to be the crown jewel event outside of the Majors.

The PGA TOUR is Set to Make HUGE Changes to the TOUR Championship

That is no more. The PGA TOUR announced that it is making some changes to its final event of the year, hoping to improve on what has been a very successful event. There were just some true changes that needed to be made to make it all that it could be.

The TOUR listed in its press release announcing the adjustments all of what will be changing about the TOUR Championship:

• Elimination of Starting Strokes: The TOUR Championship will be played as a 72-hole stroke-play event, with all players starting the tournament at even par. The best performer over the course of four rounds at the TOUR Championship will win the FedExCup.
• Adjustments to course setup: In response to data indicating fans want to see winning scores closer to par, the PGA TOUR Rules Committee will adjust its course setup approach to encourage more risk/reward moments throughout each round, further heightening the drama and competition to determine the FedExCup champion.
• Toughest tournament to qualify for: Already the most elite field in golf, the TOUR Championship field size will remain at 30 players in 2025. The Player Advisory Council is studying the qualification system of future years to raise the stakes on the entire FedExCup season and reinforce the TOUR Championship as the hardest tournament to qualify for.

Let's break it down:

Elimination of Starting Strokes

Previously, the player at the top of the FedEx Cup Points List would start the TOUR Championship at -10, two strokes clear of the player in 2nd. This staggered start appeared to be an advantage for the player deemed the most successful and the most consistent across the season -- understandably so.

However, it did not do any favors for the format. Making the TOUR Championship is hard enough, and if you barely made it in from the BMW Championship, there was little-to-no chance that player would be able to overcome a ten-shot deficit. 

Now, the event will reward the most consistent and best performer over those four days, a good adjustment, but there still seems to be something missing.

It appears that the more reasonable way to handle the TOUR Championship might have been a match play format where seeding was determined by position in points and the Official World Golf Ranking. However, this is still a major improvement from what the PGA TOUR had originally enlisted with the tournament, as the staggered start was incredibly strange.

Adjustments to Course Setup

The staggered start already creates some truly ridiculous scores at the TOUR Championship. Scottie Scheffler won at -30 last year, Viktor Hovland at -27 the year before, and Rory McIlroy at -21 the year before that.

It's fun to watch guys play great golf; nobody is denying that. However, it is also nice to watch the players, who are the best in the world, be challenged a little bit. Jack Nicklaus said in a press conference yesterday ahead of this weekend's The Memorial Tournament that you can only make golf courses so long. Players have been hitting the ball a mile for a while now.

Jack Nicklaus today on modern equipment:

"I mean, the golf ball goes too far. It has gone too far for a while. Then they continue to lengthen things.

But to me, lengthening only does a couple things: One, it takes longer to play. It costs more money, it costs more money, it…

— Joseph LaMagna (@JosephLaMagna) May 27, 2025

It seems as if the time to adjust things and make the game more difficult is now.

This is a big reason why East Lake should not be the choice of the TOUR Championship each year. East Lake has plenty of holes that offer high risk/reward, but other courses do, too. This is a strategy the TOUR can use to avoid monotony within the tournament each year.

Qualification Adjustments Coming?

While the size of the field and the current qualifications are staying the same, things could change in the coming years. There could be some more routes to qualify, but the TOUR did not really shed too much light on it.

It's hard to say that "a player needs a win to qualify for the TOUR Championship" because 30 guys do not win every year. However, there could be some argument that there are players who fall outside the Top 30 and should be in the field, and might have missed the cut by just a few points.

Cover Image via PGA Tour