The PGA Tour is about to undergo a drastic change.
CEO Brian Rolapp has unveiled his plans for the new PGA Tour schedule, and there are some big changes on the way. The season is about to be shortened to just over 20 events, and start after the Super Bowl.
A two-tier system will be introduced, featuring promotion and relegation between the two tiers. Iconic golf courses, some of which have never been on the PGA Tour, will potentially be featured in the postseason, and the Tour Championship will become a match-play event.
That should be music to the ears of Shane Lowry, who is a huge supporter of these developments.
New Tour Championship format suits Shane Lowry’s game
Lowry has had his fair share of struggles this season. Ever since he threw away a win at the Cognizant Classic, he’s not been anywhere near contention, and the Irishman recently split with his caddie in an attempt to salvage his season.
It’s a fall from grace for Lowry, who was Team Europe’s hero at the Ryder Cup. He sank the retaining putt on the 18th green at Bethpage Black, coming up in the clutch when the rest of his team were floundering.
Lowry has been a dependable Ryder Cup player for Europe over the last three events, but he’s not been able to replicate that form in stroke play. He comes up with huge shots in clutch moments for Europe, but he fell apart at The Masters and the Cognizant this year to add to his list of collapses.
He’s not the first to have a record like this. Sergio Garcia is another example of a player who excelled at match play but couldn’t get it done in the biggest stroke play events. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods had a shockingly bad Ryder Cup record.
What do you make of the planned changes to the PGA Tour?
What do you like? What concerns you about the changes?
Match play and stroke play are two totally different mentalities. In stroke play you always need to worry about the next shot. You have to balance risk and reward, and not go after every pin in the fear of destroying your entire tournament.
But in matchplay, the pressure is removed in a sense. If your opponent hits a great shot, then you know there’s no point playing safe. You just need to go for it. And if you don’t pull the shot off and make a huge error, there’s always the next hole.
Lowry is an example of a player who thrives in a match-play environment, so he should be thrilled that the Tour Championship is changing to this format. His chances of winning just increased exponentially.
Shane Lowry reacts to Tour Championship changes
Lowry, as expected, was thrilled with these changes. As a match play savant, he believes the format should play a bigger role in professional golf, and he’s glad the PGA Tour are implementing it into their season finale.
Speaking on Lunch with the Boys, he said, “I feel like golf needs the biggest matchplay event in the world. Like, there needs to be a huge match play event. I think this is a good opportunity for the PGA Tour to do something along those lines.
“It’s always quite difficult, and the World Match Play Championship found it difficult to keep the sponsors happy, keep people happy by trying to keep the best players in the world playing until Sunday.
“Sometimes the best players get knocked out, and I think that’s going to be the case. But in American sports in the playoffs, sometimes bad teams win the Super Bowl or sometimes, you know what I mean?
“It’s kind of that’s just the way it is, and I think if they’re going to cling on to the playoff mentality of things, I think everyone needs to go back to square one and everyone needs to start at zero, like the playoffs do in all American sports.
“And I think match play would be cool, and I know there’s been a lot of venues talked about, but certain iconic venues would be cool. Match play, I think, for a lot of us, other than maybe the top three or four players, gives us more of a chance, I think, to win the FedEx Cup. So we all think it’s probably a good idea!”
But with his recent form, Lowry needs to make sure he’s in a position to qualify for the event when it comes around in 2028.
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