The PGA Tour’s playoff season arrives at the end of a long competitive stretch. This stretch includes the four majors, one each month starting in April. By the time the FedExCup Playoffs begin in August, players have dealt with months of travel, changing courses, major championship pressure, and the physical demands of a global golf schedule. The transition is difficult because there is little time to reset. Golfers have to move from the regular season and major-championship campaign into a three-event playoff series. Justin Thomas believes that by this time of the year, many golfers are exhausted.

Speaking with Golf Channel, he revealed that everyone’s a bit sore by the time the playoffs begin. However, he is also confident that the PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp will make necessary changes in the future to benefit both fans and golfers.

“For sure. I think he [Brian Rolapp] has an unbelievable, just a different perspective, I think, of looking at things, which is helpful for us because, I mean, no offense to the Tour and us, but what we’ve been trying to do hasn’t exactly checked the box that we probably needed to or wanted to in terms of the excitement of the playoffs,” JT told Golf Channel.

“And that’s really really important, and at the end of the day our biggest events are events that we don’t own and that is a very unfortunate part of it but we want to build something obviously for the PGA Tour but just for golf too to where it’s like we you have fans players we have a postseason playoff to look forward to and not that we don’t look forward to to this but I think with a different setup and a different situation and different formats, whatever you want to call it. I think it has the opportunity to just have a lot more excitement from everybody around.”

Golf’s biggest events are the four majors. The PGA Tour doesn’t manage or run any of those. Therefore, there’s not much that the Tour could do there. But it can manage the playoff events, and the way the organization is controlling them is something Justin Thomas is not very fond of.

The schedule is just one thing; the 16-time PGA Tour winner highlighted many other things. He believes the current format is not delivering enough excitement. Last year, the Tour announced the elimination of the starting stroke advantage. Scottie Scheffler supported the decision, while Rory McIlroy said that he was in favor of starting strokes.

However, the Northern Irishman was part of the smaller crowd. Most golfers favored the elimination because it made the playoff a little more competitive. But JT says it didn’t tick the box the golfers and the PGA Tour wanted to check. Similarly, the current stroke play does not create the competitive atmosphere that playoff events should have.

Justin Thomas expects Brian Rolapp to make up for all the mistakes the PGA Tour has made previously. As he noted, Rolapp has a very different perspective on the game. In fact, he and the Future Competition Committee have already considered changing the playoff format.

Starting in 2028, when the Tour introduces the two-tier system, the playoff format is likely to change from stroke play to match play. This alone would make every game more exciting, at least for the fans to watch. The head-on competitions that have made many sports popular will benefit golf, too. Reports also claim that the number of events could be reduced to two and hosted at rotating venues.

The PGA Tour playoffs have room for improvement, and Justin Thomas believes Brian Rolapp can bring a fresh perspective to the format. With potential changes, the postseason could become more competitive and engaging for players and fans.