There are changes coming on the PGA Tour. According to the Associated Press on Tuesday, there will be a matchplay component starting in 2028 to determine the Tour Champion.
The PGA Tour needs to be praised here for thinking outside the box and making the August season more exciting. The announcement of the change was made by PGA Tour Chief Executive Officer Brian Rolapp. Starting in 2027, Rolapp will be the new PGA Tour Commissioner as he is replacing Jay Monahan.
Under the current set up, there are three weeks in the FedEx Cup Playoffs with the final 30 golfers qualifying for the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Under the new set up starting two years from now, there will be 90 golfers competing at the BMW Championship (the first weekend of the PGA Tour playoffs). From there, the field will drop to 32 golfers. In the second week of the playoffs, players will be separated into eight pools with four golfers in each pool. The top two golfers in each pool will then advance to the final weekend where the 16 remaining golfers will play a match-play tournament to determine the Tour Champion.
This will have been the first time we have seen match play in golf at the highest level since 2023 when The World Match Play Championships wrote part of the World Golf Championships. The event took place annually from 1999 to 2023, with Tiger Woods winning the event the most as he won thrice. Over the years, the event took place in California, Australia, Arizona and Texas. The final champion was Sam Burns of Shreveport, Louisiana, who beat Cameron Young 6&5 in Austin.
What we do not know at this time is whether FedEx will continue to be the top sponsor and where the final two tournaments in 2028 will be held. The 2028 BMW Championship is scheduled for Olympia Fields in Chicago,
