Tour Championship format: How it works and starting scores

The Tour Championship is the grand finale of the PGA Tour season.

Each year, the FedEx Cup play-offs conclude at the Tour Championship, where a limited field contests a huge prize purse.

Despite being stroke play, the event has a very different format to every other tournament in the calendar.

So, here’s everything you need to know about the Tour Championship format, including starting scores.

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Where and when is the Tour Championship?

Since 2007, the Tour Championship has been the final event of the FedEx Cup play-offs and is held in late August.

Four tournaments made up the play-offs until 2019, when the FedEx Cup was reduced to three events and that had an impact on when the Tour Championship is played.

Previously, it was contested in mid-September.

Between 1987 and 1996, several courses hosted the championship, while East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta took joint hosting responsibility a year later.

However, since 2004, East Lake has been the permanent home of the Tour Championship.

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What is the Tour Championship format?

At the end of a season-long race, eligibility for the Tour Championship is determined by FedEx Cup points accumulated throughout the season.

It means that the top 30 finishers in the FedEx Cup standings through the preceding BMW Championship, qualify for the Tour Championship.

The current basis for qualification began in 2007, replacing the previous format used between 1987 – when the tournament debuted – and 2006.

In those years, the top 30 money winners on the PGA Tour after the penultimate event qualified for the Tour Championship.

Meanwhile, from 2009, if any of the top five FedEx Cup point leaders entering the Tour Championship won it, that player would also win the FedEx Cup.

So, one player could win the Tour Championship and another the FedEx Cup.

But since 2019, the winner of the Tour Championship is now also crowned the FedEx Cup champion.

The event is so different to others, though, because the leading players on the season-long points list enter the competition with a starting score.

The points leader starts the tournament at ten-under-par, while the second starts at –8, third at –7, fourth at –6 and fifth at –5.

Players ranked six through ten start at four-under, 11 through 15 at three-under, 16 through 20 at two-under, 21 through 25 at one-under and 26 through 30 at even-par.

Any starting scores in relation to par are discounted, meaning places and world ranking points are awarded based on aggregate scores over four rounds.

The 2024 Tour Championship has a $100 million bonus pool. Click here for full prize money details.

2024 Tour Championship starting scores

1. Scottie Scheffler: -10

2. Xander Schauffele: -8

3. Hideki Matusyama: -7

4. Keegan Bradley: -6

5. Ludvig Aberg: -5

T6. Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay: -4

T11. Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala, Shane Lowry, Adam Scott, Tony Finau: -3

T16. Byeong Hun An, Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley, Akshay Bhatia, Robert MacIntyre: -2

T21. Billy Horschel, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Matthieu Pavon, Taylor Pendrith: -1

T26. Chris Kirk, Tom Hoge, Aaron Rai, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Justin Thomas: E