Golf launches its own ‘World Cup’ with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in huge PGA Tour announcement

Match play golf will return to the PGA Tour for the first time in five years as part of an overhaul of the Tour Championship.

The season-ending event will have its format changed once again ahead of the 2028 season.

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An announcement from the PGA Tour has confirmed match play golf will return to the schedule for the first time since 2023.

The format has been absent from the tour since the WGC Match Play was removed two years ago.

It follows the news that the Tour is switching to a two-tier system with a PGA Tour Championship and Challenger Series.

Similarly to the current set-up the best players each year will qualify for a season-ending event.

New-look PGA Tour Championship

The top 90 in the points list will earn a spot in the following season as well as entry to the Championship Series Finale.

A winner will be crowned at the stroke play event, which will follow the layout of the existing Tour Championship.

That event will then follow with a World Cup-style match play tournament spread across two weeks involving the top 32 players on the points list.

The first week of the event will see the field split into eight groups of four with round robin matches across three days of golf.

After the opening weekend, the top two in each group will advance to week two at a new course, with play-offs deciding any tiebreakers.

Week two will consist of four rounds of knockout match play golf from Thursday to Sunday to crown the Tour Championship winner.

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PGA Tour reaction

The overhaul of the Tour Championship has been brought about by the Future Competition Committee.

Launched in 2025, the group was tasked with overseeing ‘significant change’ to the PGA Tour’s schedule.

Amongst those on the committee is 15-time major winner Tiger Woods, who wrote in a post on his Instagram story: “The conclusion of the season should be worthy of the journey it takes to get there.

“Today’s announcement is a result of the hard work and passion of our players. Excited to usher in a new era of match play on the PGA Tour.”

Meanwhile, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp added: “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.

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“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.”

How does the current Tour Championship work?

The new-look event’s unveiling comes just days before the 2026 Tour Championship at East Lake.

This year’s tournament marks the second staging under the existing format.

Between 2019 and 2024, players were given starting strokes determined by their standings on the FedEx Cup points list.

The move saw the season’s best performers receive an advantage based on their efforts over the year to date.

Beginning with last year’s Tour Championship, though, the 30-player field all starts on level par as they eye the $10million (£7.3m) prize.

Qualification is still decided by the FedEx Cup standings, with Scottie Scheffler leading nearest challenger Matt Fitzpatrick by 1,523 points.

The world No.1 also topped the standings in 2025, but was unable to claim victory in the Tour Championship.

Instead, Tommy Fleetwood claimed his first PGA Tour win despite sitting 4,533 points adrift of Scheffler in fifth heading into the event.

To date, the American has only won the Tour Championship once back in 2024.

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In contrast, Rory McIlroy is a three-time winner, most recently doing so four years ago.