It is easy to imagine Rory McIlroy is among the 29 players who are happy to see the Tour Championship drop starting strokes for this year’s event at East Lake.
The PGA Tour is still searching for the best way to structure the FedEx Cup playoffs. Since 2019, the Tour Championship has used a staggered leaderboard, with players starting between 10 under par and level par based on their FedEx Cup standings.
In 2024, the event once more faced criticism over its starting strokes system. Despite a dominant season, Scottie Scheffler began with just a two-shot lead, a margin some felt didn’t reflect his achievements across the year.
Rory McIlroy speaks on the Tour Championship’s controversial format
Every player at this year’s Tour Championship will start at level par, but the change is not expected to last. The decision was made midway through the season, and there is still uncertainty around what the permanent setup will look like.
Even McIlroy has admitted he is unsure of where things are headed in terms of structure. Speaking ahead of this week’s tournament, the Northern Irishman mentioned that he did not mind the previous system as much as some others did.
“I’m maybe part of the minority. I didn’t hate the starting strokes. I thought that the player that played the best during the course of the season should have had an advantage coming in here.
“But the majority of people just didn’t like the starting strokes. Whether it were players or fans – I was on the PAC when we were trying to go through that, and really it was just a way to try to simplify the advantage that the top players were going to get over the course of the week instead of Steve Sands doing calculations on a white board.
“But you could also argue if it was starting strokes this week, Scottie with a two-shot lead, it probably isn’t enough considering what he’s done this year and the lead that he has in the FedExCup going into this week.”
“Look, there was a lot of other stuff on the table. Match play was on the table, and that got canned for this year. That might be brought back up in the conversation for next year or the year after.
“I think it’s just hard for the players to reconcile that we play stroke play for every week of the year but then the season-ending tournament is going to be decided by match play. I think it was just hard for the players to get their heads around that.
“I don’t know, maybe that will be on the table again, who knows. Yeah, look, it’s a 72-hole stroke-play event, and that’s what we play week in and week out. That’s what’s going to determine the winner.
“I don’t know if it’s the best format, but it’s the one that we have for this week.”
The PGA Tour is still working out how to award their season title. But for now, we will see all 30 players at East Lake begin on level ground.
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Rory McIlroy’s FedEx Cup success
It is not all that surprising that McIlroy was not among those calling for the end of starting strokes.
The Northern Irishman has had plenty of success under the old system. He has won the FedEx Cup three times, more than any other player, with Tiger Woods being the only other multi-time champion.
Two of those wins came during the starting strokes era, in 2019 and again in 2022.
If that format had remained longer, perhaps we would have seen someone start from level par and go on to win. But for now, this week’s tournament should feel a bit fresher, with every player beginning on an even footing.
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