The PGA Tour will close its season with a match play event starting in 2028.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp unveiled the format of the new Championship Series, which begins in 2028, on the tour's website on the 26th, Korea time.
According to Rolapp, during the regular-season Championship Series, players will compete in stroke play to determine winners, after which the top 32 will advance to the final match play. In the first week, the 32 players will be divided into eight groups of four for group-stage qualifying. Players in each group will face off in one-on-one match play, with the top two from each group — 16 players in total — moving on to the next stage.
In the second week, the venue will change, and the 16 players will compete in a knockout format, in which a single loss eliminates a player. The player who wins in the end becomes the Tour Championship winner. Unlike stroke play, which ranks players by their total number of strokes over all rounds, match play pits two players against each other hole by hole, with the player who wins more holes taking the victory. This marks the first time match play has been introduced to the PGA Tour postseason.
Tiger Woods, who led the overhaul, also welcomed the change. Woods, who chaired the PGA Tour reform committee, said through social media that he was glad to open a new era of match play on the PGA Tour.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, ranked second in the world, said he liked that the tour attempted a major change, while stressing that it is also important for the regular-season champion crowned through stroke play to be properly rewarded.
