The PGA Tour season from 2028 will culminate in a new matchplay tournament that pits the world’s top golfers against one another across two weeks, chief executive officer Brian Rolapp announced Tuesday.
The following week, at a different venue, the 16 remaining players will clash knock-out style, with the only undefeated player left after four rounds crowned as the Tour Championship winner.
“It’s matchplay over two weeks, an opportunity to make this an extended moment that commands the attention of golf and sports fans,” said Rolapp. Under Rolapp’s new plans, a season-long strokeplay winner will still be recognized at the regular-season PGA TOUR Championship Series finale “essentially identifying the best player in the world” before the matchplay tournaments begin. McIlroy said it was important that “the regular season champion is going to be adequately rewarded after that final stroke-play event, and then the TOUR Championship match play is going to be completely different.”
Currently, the PGA season concludes with a series of three strokeplay playoff tournaments, each narrowing the field down until 30 remain for the Tour Championship which takes place this weekend in Atlanta, Georgie.
The re-imagined finale will be “one of the most difficult tournaments to qualify for and win, testing the world’s best golfers in a different way, in a unique competitive format,” he said.
Matchplay is the format currently used in popular tournaments like the Ryder Cup, but has not been used previously in the PGA Tour’s post-season.
