McIlroy questions finale’s format and $15m prize

RORY McILROY has questioned both the radical new format and the focus on the $15m first prize at this week’s season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake.

From 2019, the player who has the most FedEx Cup points after the BMW Championship, in this case Justin Thomas, starts the first round of the PGA Tour finale in Atlanta on a score of 10 under par.

The second-highest points earner will begin at eight under, the thirdranked player at seven under and so on, on a sliding scale down to the players in 26th to 30th who start on level par. McIlroy starts on five under and could, therefore, beat Thomas by four shots over 72 holes and still finish behind the former world No. 1.

“We had breakfast with some of the sponsors,” McIlroy said. “What I said to them was if the PGA Tour are trying to do this season of championships, where it starts with the Players in March, then goes through the four majors and culminates with the FedEx Cup at the end, if the FedEx Cup really wants to have this legacy in the game like some of these other championships do, is people starting the tournament on different numbers the best way to do it?

“I get it from a fan experience point of view, I get it from giving guys that have played better throughout the year an advantage, but I don’t know... come back to me on Monday and I’ll tell you if it has worked or not.

“You can shoot the best score of the week and not win the golf tournament. If that happens to someone it’s going to be hard for them to wrap their head around.”

Speaking about the $15m first prize, up from $10m last year, McIlroy added: “Who knows what the winner wins at the Masters? I don’t know because that’s not what it’s about.

“So again, if the FedEx Cup wants to create a legacy that lasts longer it doesn’t need to be about the money, it should be about the prestige of winning an event that you’ll be remembered for.

“The money’s great but I’ll get more satisfaction from winning the golf tournament and playing well. I don’t think the money needs to be front and centre because I don’t think that’s what the fans care about.

“It’s definitely a thought that came into my head, how can we make ourselves more relatable to the fans and having $15m front and centre isn’t probably the best way to do it.”

FedEx front-runner Thomas added: “It’s the first year of it and obviously we changed it because we thought it was for the better.

“Like anything you don’t really know for a couple of years until you see what happens.”