The New Tour Championship Format Offered An Insurrection Instead of a Coronation

Instead of a coronation, the New Tour Championship Format offered an insurrection

I must admit that I was skeptical about the new Tour Championship format. The idea of giving strokes to the leader like it was some sort of net handicap competition somehow seemed doomed to fail. Spotting one of the best players in the world two strokes over the guy in second, and FIVE shots over the guy in fifth didn’t seem as though it would result in much competition.

My thought was that Justin Thomas — the guy in first — would take that -10 and end up somewhere around -20 when all was said and done.

Boy was I wrong. At the end of Sunday, Thomas had picked up just three strokes over four rounds, falling into a T3 with Brooks Koepka (who started at -7). Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy, who started five strokes back, played four rounds in -13 to finish in first. Xander Schauffele, who finished second at -14 gained ten strokes over those four rounds.

Below, you’ll see the players in the top ten and where they finished on Sunday:

1. Justin Thomas ( started -10) – Finished T3 (-13)
2. Patrick Cantlay (-8) – Finished T21 (+1)
3. Brooks Koepka (-7) – Finished T3 (-13)
4. Patrick Reed (-6) – Finished T9 (-5)
5. Rory McIlroy (-5) – Finished 1 (-18)
6. Jon Rahm (-4) – Finished T12 (-4)
7. Matt Kuchar (-4) – Finished T16 (-1)
8. Xander Schauffele (-4) – Finished 2 (-14)
9. Webb Simpson (-4) – Finished T16 (-1)
10. Abraham Ancer (-4) – Finished T21 (+1)

Thanks to heroics from Rory and Xander, it was exciting a weekend of golf as the PGA TOUR could have hoped. The New Tour Championship Format Offered An Insurrection Instead of a Coronation

Of course, it remains to be seen whether the new PGA TOUR Championship format has legs. Perhaps next year the leader heading into the Championship steps on the gas and makes whole thing moot by Saturday.

For now, however, it looks as though the PGA TOUR got it right.