Rory McIlroy says the new-look conclusion to the FedExCup Playoffs now offers a “clean slate for everyone” at the Tour Championship – even if he thought the previous system that saw the points leader start with an advantage over the field made sense.
The top 30 players on the FedExCup points list will compete for the season-long title – plus the bumper $10m (£7.4m) winner’s prize – at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta from Thursday, live on Sky Sports Golf.
But in a significant change from the system which had been in place since 2019, the FedExCup points leader coming into the week – which in this case is world No 1 Scottie Scheffler – will not start with any stroke advantage over the rest of the field. The previous system saw the points leader start with a two-stroke advantage over the second-placed player in the standings and up to 10 strokes over the rest of the field.
It means that Scheffler, who has won five times on the tour this year and leads second-placed McIlroy by more points (3,769) than the Masters champion has gained (3,687) in the season, will start on level par.
The Tour Championship winner is also crowned FedExCup champion, irrespective of the pre-event points standings.
“We’ve played this event and this golf course in a bunch of different formats,” said McIlroy.
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Rory McIlroy made back-to-back double bogeys after duffing bunker shots on both holes at the BMW Championship.
“It has a different feel. Any one of the 30 has a chance to win the FedExCup this year, which is obviously a lot different than it’s been in previous years.
“It’s a clean slate for everyone and it’s a great opportunity for one of the guys who maybe wasn’t a huge part of the season to put their hand up and have a chance to win the big prize at the end of the year.”
McIlroy, the only three-time winner of the FedExCup having claimed the title in 2016, 2019 and 2022, admits he was not among those who disliked the previous system, but accepts the change has been made.
“I’m maybe part of the minority. I didn’t hate the starting strokes,” he said.
“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.
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Highlights from the final day of the BMW Championship in Owing Mills, Maryland.
“Whether it were players or fans, I was on the PAC [Player Advisory Council] 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 [Golf Channel’s] 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.”
How can I watch the Tour Championship live on Sky Sports?
Sky Sports has extended coverage from all three of the FedExCup Playoffs. Live coverage of the Tour Championship begins from 6pm on Thursday and Friday, 5.30pm on Saturday and 5pm for Sunday’s final round.
Who will win the FedExCup? Watch the Tour Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Stream the PGA Tour and more with no contract.
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