PGA Tour to Add Match Play to Postseason Starting in 2028

ATLANTA —

The PGA Tour's postseason will look very different starting in 2028. Commissioner and CEO Brian Rolapp announced Tuesday that the Tour will split its season-ending competition into two parts: a 72-hole stroke-play finale that determines the seasonlong champion, followed by a new, two-week match-play Tour Championship, according to ESPN.

Group Play, Then Brackets

The Championship Series finale will include the top 90 players on the seasonlong points list, all of whom keep their tour cards for the following year, ESPN reported. That event's final standings will crown the seasonlong champion and set bonus payouts. The top 32 players from that list then move on to the Tour Championship, played over two weeks at two different courses.

In the first week, the 32 players will be split into eight groups of four for three rounds of round-robin play, with the top two finishers in each group advancing. The second week brings a 16-player match-play bracket, with players advancing based on wins and losses until two undefeated golfers meet for the title, ESPN reported.

It will be the first time match play has featured in the Tour's postseason, and the first time the format has appeared on tour at all since the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in 2023, according to ESPN.

"I think we've established how you determine the best golfer in the world, and then we've established a really great competition in a format that fans want to see," Rolapp told ESPN.

Players Came Around Slowly

Golfers were not initially sold on the idea. Keith Mitchell, a member of the Tour's Future Competition Committee, told ESPN that players were "violently against" incorporating match play into the postseason during a meeting two years ago, worried that a single elimination match could unfairly decide a season's worth of earnings. Support grew once the committee proposed separating the seasonlong title from the match-play finale, Mitchell said.

"The most important thing for the players was rewarding a seasonlong champion without some sort of gimmicks," Mitchell told ESPN.

Rory McIlroy, who had publicly questioned the changes earlier this year, struck a more positive tone Tuesday after Rolapp briefed him on the details, according to CBS Sports and BBC Sport. "I think they've taken a big swing, and conceptually, I think I really like it," McIlroy said, per BBC Sport. He said the compact, crowd-light format could let the Tour Championship rotate to historic courses such as the Olympic Club or Baltusrol that have not traditionally hosted PGA Tour events, according to CBS Sports.

The Tour plans to announce full venues and scheduling for the 2028 Championship Series, including the Tour Championship, on February 22, 2027, ESPN reported. Rolapp told ESPN that formal talks with prospective host courses have not yet begun, though staff have made site visits to venues that expressed interest.