What one PGA Tour player was saying about prize money for the Tour Championship after changes announced by Jay Monahan

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The PGA Tour continues this week with The Memorial Tournament, but the Tour Championship is also in the spotlight.

The Memorial Tournament is the latest Signature Event on the PGA Tour, and arrives shortly before the US Open.

The Masters champion Rory McIlroy is not taking on the tournament, but world number one Scottie Scheffler is among a strong field.

Muirfield Village Golf Club plays host to the event, which is hosted by 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus.

The Canadian Open then takes place at TPC Toronto next week, immediately followed by the US Open at Oakmont.

What one PGA Tour player has said about Tour Championship prize money

But PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has been focusing heavily on the season-long FedExCup, which culminates with the Tour Championship.

Rex Hoggard has now shared his take on the event, which has just scrapped starting strokes, having previously allowed the player with the most FedExCup points to start the tournament on 10-under par.

READ MORE: The Scottie Scheffler statistic that will worry every other player ahead of the US Open

“The interesting thing to me that was left unsaid, because the Tour is trying to control the message as best they can is twofold,” Hoggard said on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav.

“One is that there will be more change. The commissioner’s line to me was that this is a journey. And the journey means that the Tour Championship in 2026 and beyond probably won’t look like what the Tour Championship looks like in 2025.

“My guess is that it is going to be a smaller field, don’t know what the number is going to be. 20 or 15 – whatever number we want to slice it up.

“They want to make this something that is coveted and hard to get to. They are going to make East Lake a little bit more difficult.

“They are listening to the fans and the fans want to see something that is closer to even par, which I don’t understand because every time we have an even par winner everyone thinks it’s boring golf. But, okay, I am fine with that as well.

“But the one thing the Tour did not want to address which seems obvious, it’s the elephant in the room, is that the $25million the winner, Scottie Scheffler, got last year, which goes to the winner of the end of the FedEx Cup, which is your season long race – every player that I talked to today, whether that was a player on the policy board or advisory council or just a normal member. Every player said that is going to have to change.

“You are going to have to find a way to reward regular-season performance in a way that is commensurate with the way you are going to reward this and the playoffs.

“So I heard all varying degrees of different ideas. Just split whatever the pot is and whoever wins the regular gets half and whoever wins the playoff gets half and then it’s adjusted all the way down for everyone else.

“I had one player tell me, no, the winner of the regular season should get more than the winner of the playoffs because it’s harder to win the regular season.

“You have to put more time and effort into it and you have to sustain that solid level of play over months not days. That’s the part of the puzzle I think is most interesting to watch here going forward.”

What Tour Championship changes has Jay Monahan announced?

The season-long competition gets underway in August, with the FedEx St. Jude Championship kick-starting the playoffs.

That is followed by the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship, with the latter set for East Lake Golf Club.

READ MORE: Golf fans deliver their verdicts after major changes announced for the Tour Championship

There, all 30 players will now tee off on level par, with a new course setup among the other changes announced by Monahan.

He said in a statement: “Our Fan Forward initiative has helped us evaluate each part of the PGA TOUR season and today’s announcement is an important first step in the evolution of our postseason.

“The Player Advisory Council led a thorough process to respond to what our fans are asking for: The most competitive golf in the world, played for the highest stakes, in the most straightforward and engaging format.”