ATLANTA – Lost in Tuesday’s announcement that the PGA Tour will dramatically overhaul how the FedExCup champion will be crowned was exactly what this means for the Tour Championship.
The top 30 on the playoff points list will continue to advance to the finale at East Lake with the field handicapped based on their position on that list, with the points leader beginning the week at 10 under par, No. 2 on the list at 8 under, No. 3 at 7 under and so on.
This will essentially make the Tour Championship a FedExCup shootout, a notion commissioner Jay Monahan seemed to confirm when asked if officials still planned to award two trophies on Sunday, the FedExCup and the trophy for winning the Tour Championship.
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“There will be one trophy handed out on Sunday, and that will be the FedExCup trophy,” Monahan said. “But Calamity Jane [a replica of the putter used by Bobby Jones that is awarded the winner at East Lake] is a rich part of this club. We’re going to find the right way to perpetuate the Calamity Jane.”
There will also not be a specific purse for the finale – although a player will be compensated for his finish in the FedExCup, with an increase of the total bonus pool to $60 million – and Monahan was asked how this impacts the role of Coca-Cola and Southern Company, the event’s longtime sponsors.
“I don’t want to put words in their mouth, but when we had the conversation, they immediately supported this idea and this concept, and in fact, are committed to us for a long time to come,” Monahan said.
