News
2 MIN READ
August 25, 2026
The Match-Play TOUR Championship Is (Finally) Coming. Here's How It'll Work.
We've never been more back!
The TOUR Championship is going to look unrecognizable when the PGA TOUR implements the changes it has planned for 2028.
In two years, we’ll see the top 90 players of the Championship Series advance to the “Championship Series Finale.” This will be a 72-hole, stroke-play event that will not only finalize the season-long points race, but also determine the field for the 32-man new-look TOUR Championship.
The new TOUR Championship will be a two-week, match-play event contested at iconic venues the TOUR doesn’t often see (or never has). According to the Sports Business Journal, the list of potential venues includes Sleepy Hollow, Los Angeles Country Club, and Interlachen.
The first week will be the group stage, where the field will be split into eight groups of four players. Each player will face the other three players in his group, and the top two seeds from each group will move on to the next week.
The final week will feature the 16 players playing four rounds of match play. It won’t look like March Madness, where if you lose, you go home, all 16 players will participate in all four rounds. The final two undefeated players will battle for the title of TOUR Champion.
Confused? Well, this video from the TOUR makes it easy to understand.
New Look TOUR Championship
TOUR CEO Brian Rolapp wrote this in a statement sent out on Tuesday:
"From the beginning, the goal of the Future Competition Committee was to create an easier-to-follow competitive model for our fans with greater consequence and a stronger season-long narrative. Throughout this process, we listened carefully to our fans, players and partners. One message came through clearly: the culmination of our season should be worthy of the journey it takes to get there. The result is a season-ending structure that rewards excellence over the course of the year while building toward a reimagined TOUR Championship. We are creating something different, something distinct within professional golf that can resonate far beyond it."
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
Get our top stories in your inbox, including the latest drops in style, the need-to-know news in pro golf, and the latest episodes of Skratch’s original series.
