It’s that time of year where the top 30 PGA Tour players get to compete for a huge money grab. Specifically, a $40 million purse with the winner taking home $10 million. And the $40 million purse at the TOUR Championship is considered Official Money, separate from the nearly $100 million in FedExCup Bonus Money.

The FedEx Cup Bonus Money is based on the year long contest and Scottie Scheffler locked up the top spot after winning the St Jude FedEx Championship; which means Scheffler gets a bonus of 23 million; $22 million is paid in cash, and $1 million is deferred into the player’s PGA Tour pension account. The player that comes in second will take home $13 million in bonus money. Third place will receive $8 million, fourth place will receive $6.5 million, fifth will receive $5.4 million, and bonus money is paid out in cash or pension contribution for the top 125 players.. CBS Sports reported the full list of players and the money they earned and it is staggering.

The FedEx Cup as we know it is going away. In 2028, the PGA TOUR Championship Series and the PGA TOUR Challenger Series will be the 2-tier new structure of the PGA Tour.

For the players in the Championship Series. They will have a season long ranking and at the end of all the competitions, the top player is the Champion Series “champion” or “player of the year” based on performance over all of the competitions. It also appears (from the press conference today) that all the year-end bonus will be paid after the series is completed and based on the season.

The fall event will be match play where the top 32 players from the “regular” season series will compete over two weeks for the “Tour Championship”. And interesting move for the tour. Part of me feels like this is just to give the USA players practice at match play so they can compete better at Ryder Cups. It just feels like an “add on” to me. Time will tell how well it is received by fans, players, and sponsors. Here is a video the PGA Tour put out about the new structure and the match play finale for the new PGA TOUR Challenger Series.

The players all want to be in the TOUR Championship Series because it has the big money events (currently known at “signature events”); and they all want to “play against the best players” and not be relegated to the second tier called “The Challenger Series”. It will be interesting to see how the Challenger Series is marketed compared to the current Korn Ferry Tour (which is the current feeder tour into the PGA Tour). Also, how will Challenger Series players move up to the Championship Series? Can they move mid-year or is it a year-end final ranking decision? More to come as this new structure is finalized in 2027.

I have not decided how I feel about the new system coming in 2028. I wonder how favorite players, like Jordan Speith, will feel if they can’t maintain a rank to stay in the Championship Series. Also, how will fans feel if their favorite is relegated to the 2nd-tier? Will fans watch the 2nd-tier events? I don’t watch Korn Ferry events so why would I watch Challenger Series events?

One thing is for sure, next year (2027) at this time there will probably be some big name players that may not be part of the new Championship Series in 2028.