Before Jay Monahan’s big change, the Tour Championship pitted the best golfers of the season against each other in an open-for-all 30-player contest for 32 consecutive editions till 2018. The terms of qualification have transformed over the years. Until 2006, the highest earners from official PGA Tour events of the season made the field. It was not until 2007 that the PGA Tour started using FedEx Cup points to earn a ticket to the illustrious season-ending event. Speaking of which, unlike today, the Tour Championship was also played in November till 2006.

From 2007 onwards, the tournament was shifted to September, and that’s when they decided to introduce the PGA Tour Fall Season. All that changed in 2013, when the Tour Championship became the season-ending event once again. Only this time, the whole season ended in September instead of November. Every season was split into two years, with a new one beginning after the conclusion of the Tour Championship.

However, in 2019, under the leadership of Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour introduced a shocking format change. While it was still contested between the top 30 FedEx Cup players for the season, every rank received an advantage going into the Tour Championship. The highest FedEx Cup-ranked golfer for the season began the Tour Championship with a 10-under par on the scoreboard. Second place started at -8 and so on. Players ranked from 26-30 started the season-ending event on par, which gave them a huge disadvantage.

While the format faced a lot of criticism, fans did get to watch some outstanding contests in the end. Jay Monahan’s plan worked as the three times the golfer with the biggest advantage going into the Tour Championship won the event produced some nail-biting action.

Rory McIlroy‘s unbelievable win in 2019 kicked off the stroke advantage era. He had a 5-stroke disadvantage against Justin Thomas at the tee on Thursday. Yet he won the tournament with a 4-stroke deficit from runner-up, Xander Schauffele. The Irishman repeated the feat in 2022, when he was 6 strokes away from Scottie Scheffler at the start of the tournament. But McIlroy ended up winning it by 1 stroke. Viktor Hovland also played his first hole with a 2 stroke disadvantage against Scheffler in 2023. Yet, he won the Tour Championship by 5 strokes. Such amazing runs kept the fans hooked to their television and the tournament exciting.

There were rumors flying around that the regular season-ending event would see another major change. In fact, fans had already shown concerns about what was being recommended. Now, their nightmare has come true as Jay Monahan & the PGA Tour have announced a huge change in the format for the 2025 Tour Championship. As reported by NUCLR GOLF, they have removed the stroke advantage for the top-ranked FedEx Cup player. That did not sit well with the fans, as they were demanding a match-play format for the big-money event.

The internet exploded with numerous negative reactions to the announcement. Let’s see what the fans had to say.

Fans blast Jay Monahan & Co. for outrageous call

The general sentiment going into the conversation was that a stroke play event to end the season was not as exciting. As one fan commented, “A limited field on a boring course. And now meaningless FEC standings above 30. Make it match play already.” They believe a knockout format will keep every fan hooked during the event, increasing the popularity of the Tour Championship. It would certainly be surprising if, by the end of the tournament, a few relatively less popular golfers end up fighting for the biggest paycheck of the season.

Another said, “So they decided not to do match play but instead are just doing a regular 72-hole tourney. Nice job listening to the fans.” Sticking to the tradition might not always be the best move, and that has been proven in this case. Jay Monahan & his team should have listened to their viewers screaming, “The people demand match play.”

Someone also spoke up about the recent controversy surrounding Signature events. They said, “Or do a match play tournament??? No one wants to see another limited player event.” Recently, Erik van Rooyen discussed how limited field events restrict great golfers from competing with the likes of Scottie Scheffler & Co. regularly.

Fans also favored the stroke advantage rule over basic strokeplay events. One of the tweets read, “At least starting strokes accounted for previous play a little bit! This feels like the worst of both worlds, you don’t have the drama of match play or the relative fairness of weighting everything that came before.” They believe that either match play or stroke advantage is better and more exciting than just playing an ordinary format tournament. After all, the majority of the PGA Tour events throughout the season are played that way.

Others also provided a blueprint of what Jay Monahan & Co. could have done instead. One of them said, “It should be match play. Top 32 in standings make it. 1 vs 32. No bracket. Reseed after each round. Highest seed plays lowest seed.” Increasing the field size to 32 and introducing an elimination-style format. The knockouts will see 1-on-1 contests between everyone on the field, and half the field will get knocked out after the first round. The second round will see the number drop from 16 to 8. The quarterfinals will have the 8 golfers fight to be in the top 4. Then the semi-finals and the finals. They also advised that the highest-ranked golfer should be matched with the 32nd-placed FedEx Cup player, 2nd vs. 31st, and so on.

Having a match-play style format will bring out the best in everyone on the field, and the winner will undoubtedly be deserving of being called the season’s champion. It will also keep the fans on the edge of their seat as it would be hard to predict who would win. This is a proven format that is a major hit across various sports.