The PGA Tour are searching for an identity for their postseason.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs fall a little flat compared to other sports leagues. Instead of a dramatic season finale, it just feels like three more big PGA Tour events. The winner of the Tour Championship isn’t the winner of the PGA Tour season, so what’s the point?
The tour changed the Tour Championship’s format last year so the leader in the FedEx Cup no longer has a stroke advantage over the rest of the field, and that further removed any sort of identity from the event. It ended up being a tournament with a massive purse and 30 players. That’s it.
CEO Brian Rolapp has hinted at drastic changes to the FedEx Cup Playoffs when his new schedule is unveiled in 2028, and this year’s US Amateur has proven that he is moving in the right direction.
Dramatic US Amateur showdown proves PGA Tour’s playoff changes are necessary
Rolapp announced at this year’s Travelers Championship that he and the PGA Tour are exploring the possibility of making the postseason a match play event. He said he hopes to bring the playoffs to iconic venues not typically seen on the PGA Tour to create a heightened sense of drama.
Match play has been done on the PGA Tour in the past. The WGC Match Play was a popular event for years which saw the world’s best golfers go head-to-head, but difficulties surrounding the television product and the spectator spectacle led to this tournament being sidelined.
There is no guarantee that any of the big names on the PGA Tour will stay in the tournament to the end, so the event saw a viewership decline as the week went on and the stars were knocked out.
But this year’s US Amateur showed the PGA Tour not only that a big match play event is possible, but that it is absolutely the path forward. The tournament is an individual match play event which has taken place since 1895, and so far, this year has been a classic.
An all-time duel between two of the best amateurs in golf took place at Merion this year. The highly regarded Miles Russell took on Ryder Cowan, who earned joint-low amateur status alongside Jackson Koivun at the US Open this season.
Little separated Cowan and Russell throughout the match, but it was Cowan who got the better of Russell in this intense duel. He holed out with a delicate chip out of the rough to advance to the next round with a 2&1 win.
It was must-see TV, and the golfing world was captivated by this match. If this is what can be produced between two amateurs at the round of 64 stage of this tournament, just imagine what PGA Tour players can produce in a match play season finale.
This should give Rolapp and the tour all the confidence they need to go ahead with this change.