Golf-PGA Tour overhauls post-season, moving to match play format in 2028

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".