With the new TOUR Championship format, the entire dynamic of the FedEx Cup playoffs has drastically changed. The impact of the St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship has dropped immensely this season. The PGA Tour pros find the new format far more acceptable than the complicated starting strokes that were used till last season. However, Tommy Fleetwood is still more comfortable with the old methods.

In an interview following the first round of the TOUR Championship, the Englishman was asked what he would change about the sport. He told the media, “Yeah, it’s tough. I’m a huge fan of what — competitive golf, I think we’re all so used to it, but I’m just a fan of whatever format brings out the best player at the end of the week, from a competitive standpoint. From a competitive and merit standpoint, whatever format allows the best player to win that week, I’m all for it. I’m probably more of a traditionalist than a lot of people, but yeah, always willing to try things without it being gimmicky. And I think that’s been a struggle. It’s been a struggle over time when people have tried things and it’s not sort of kicked off.”

While Fleetwood expressed that he is not shy of trying something new in golf, he also took a dig at LIV Golf by saying that it shouldn’t be too gimmicky. Being a “traditionalist,” as he describes himself, he enjoys the original form of the sport far more than any modified version of it. So the added dynamic of loud music, short rounds, and sundown tee-times might not be something that attracts him.

He further adds, “I think people end up preferring what we’ve always had. It’s like, grass isn’t always greener. You know, I don’t know. I think there’s something to be said if you look in other sports, like shortening formats or speeding things up has always helped in other formats. It’s always hard to do that in golf. Yeah, there’s always going to be different ways to try — I don’t mind the staggered start to be honest. I thought it was fair in a way.”

Fast-paced sports like the NFL or the NBA can afford to have shortened formats to make it more engaging and exciting. However, golf has traditionally been a test of patience, endurance, and precision. Even if there is an audience that does prefer a fast-paced league that is completed in a few hours, then they have LIV Golf and the TGL for that. However, the PGA Tour and other affiliated Tours in Europe and Asia need to remain true to the concept. He did accept that he didn’t mind a format that had staggered starts; i.e., starting strokes, like in the TOUR Championship till last year.

This comes as a surprise since most of Fleetwood’s peers were quite critical of the idea of stroke advantage. Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay were against the concept of giving a player such a huge advantage in a tournament based on their season’s performance. Justin Thomas also recently expressed his relief in playing in the playoffs without starting strokes and was fair to everyone.

This is an interesting take from Tommy Fleetwood, as he has never outright spoken against a concept that is remotely related to LIV Golf. He has been quite neutral towards the Saudi-based league, and his only comments related to it have been about him rejecting any advances from Greg Norman & Co. But as he has confirmed, he isn’t afraid to experiment with something new. And that has proved to be an enjoyable experience earlier this year.

Tommy Fleetwood steps away from tradition

Being a player who is accustomed to traditional golf, Tommy Fleetwood enjoyed a unique experience for the first few months of the year when he represented the Los Angeles GC in TGL. Teaming up with Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, and Sahith Theegala, the LAGC team lost to New York GC in the Semi-Finals in the first season of the tournament. Despite the loss, everyone involved in TGL seemed to be enjoying themselves, and the league turned out to be a huge success.

Fleetwood has also been indulging in a bit of YouTube golf recently. He started a new series on his channel where he will be trying to break 100 as a lefty. While the idea behind his experiment might still be traditional, his aspirations of growing as a content creator are certainly a step away from the traditionalist Tommy Fleetwood believes he is.