- The PGA Tour has been tinkering with the format of its season-ending Tour Championship, the final event on the FedEx Cup schedule.
- Since 2019, the Tour Championship used the Starting Strokes method, meaning the player at the top of the standings starts with a score of -10, giving them a huge advantage.
- The Tour has done away with staggered scores as they try to create more tension going into the finale.
Like many sports, golf finds itself battling to stay relevant in a busy world. The PGA Tour has tried to play around with the format of the Tour Championship, the final event in the season-long FedEx Cup.
However, the changes haven’t gone the way they’ve liked. The Tour Championship featured staggered scoring, meaning the leaders had a huge advantage going into the tournament. But the PGA Tour has gotten rid of staggered scoring to create more suspense for the Tournament.
Why is the PGA Tour Getting Rid of Starting Strokes?
The PGA Tour announced on Tuesday that it would make significant changes to the Tour Championship format, including eliminating the Starting Strokes.
The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings will still head to East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta for the Tour Championship in late August. But now, all 30 players have a chance to win, instead of just a handful of players. For example, in 2024, Scottie Scheffler went into the tournament atop the standings, which meant he started the event with a score of -10. Second-place Xander Schauffele started at -8, Hideki Matsuyama started at -7 for coming in third, and so on.
Scheffler, to no one’s surprise, went on to win the event with a score of -30, beating Collin Morikawa by four strokes.
However, if everyone started at even par, it would have been Morikawa at the top. He got around East Lake in 262 strokes after starting at -4. Scheffler needed 264 strokes over the four rounds, meaning he would have come up two strokes short. Instead, Scheffler would have finished third behind Sahith Theegala, who needed 263 strokes to finish -24 after starting at -3.
Now, everyone will start at even par, leveling the playing field. Other changes the PGA Tour is making to the Tour Championship include course setup as they want more risk/reward holes, and scores closer to par. But the elimination of Starting Strokes is, by far, the bigger story.
How Will This Affect the Betting Odds for the Tour Championship?
This is definitely going to affect the odds at golf betting sites for the season finale. Scheffler, the world’s #1 player, could be found as low as EVEN odds to win the tournament.
That’s what happens when you give the world’s best player a two-shot advantage, at minimum, over the rest of the field. It meant that he really only needed to avoid mistakes to take home a whopping $25 million. Even Scheffler thinks this is better for the Tour.
“We want the Tour Championship to be the hardest tournament to qualify for and the FedEx Cup trophy the most difficult to win. Shifting the Tour Championship to a more straight-up format with a tougher course setup makes it easier for fans to follow and provides a more challenging test for players—which brings out the best competition.”
Scheffler is usually the favorite in any tournament he enters. For example, he is an incredible +270 to win the Memorial Tournament (which he won last year) this weekend, and he’s +335 in the U.S. Open odds next month. But giving him a two-stroke lead over the field to start the Memorial Championship, Scheffler at EVEN odds was actually a decent return on a wager.
Now, everyone has a fair shake and while Scheffler, or someone like Rory McIlroy, will still be favored, the odds will be closer. This gives bettors more realistic options to win, and it was a smart move by the PGA Tour.
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