The rule change that helped Tommy Fleetwood win his first PGA Tour title
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Who would have won the Tour Championship if the ‘starting strokes’ system had still been in play? Let’s dive in…
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Tommy Fleetwood finally got over the line for his maiden PGA Tour victory at East Lake.
The popular Englishman had tried – and failed – 163 times before getting that elusive victory on the US circuit.
It was not only a victory that earned Fleetwood a handsome payday, but got him off the golf leaderboard than no player wants to be on!
But how much can he thank his fellow peers? Well, quite a lot, it seems.
The player directors on the PGA Tour’s policy board pushed earlier this year for the ‘starting shots’ rule to be scrapped at the Tour Championship.
The handicap system meant the player leading the FedEx Cup going into the finale start on 10-under-par, with the player in 2nd on 8-under-par, and so on. It caused plenty of confusion, it was largely condemned by players, and the fans didn’t like it either.
So, just for fun, how much of difference would it have made to the 2025 Tour Championship?
Here’s how they would have finished if the ‘starting strokes’ system would have still been in play – and just how much it benefitted each player.
| POSITION | PLAYER | ACTUAL SCORE | STARTING STROKES | TOTAL SCORE | ACTUAL POSITION | MOVEMENT |
| 1 | Scottie Scheffler | -14 | -10 | -24 | T4 | UP 3 |
| 2 | Tommy Fleetwood | -18 | -5 | -23 | 1 | DOWN 1 |
| 3 | Russell Henley | -15 | -4 | -19 | T2 | DOWN 1 |
| T4 | Cameron Young | -14 | -3 | -17 | T4 | = |
| T4 | Patrick Cantlay | -15 | -2 | -17 | T2 | DOWN 2 |
| T6 | Ben Griffin | -12 | -4 | -16 | T10 | UP 4 |
| T6 | Justin Thomas | -13 | -3 | -16 | T7 | DOWN 1 |
| T6 | Corey Conners | -14 | -2 | -16 | T4 | DOWN 2 |
| T9 | Keegan Bradley | -13 | -2 | -15 | T7 | DOWN 2 |
| T9 | Sam Burns | -13 | -2 | -15 | T7 | DOWN 2 |
| 11 | Rory McIlroy | -6 | -8 | -14 | T23 | UP 12 |
| T12 | Justin Rose | -7 | -6 | -13 | T21 | UP 9 |
| T12 | Robert MacIntyre | -9 | -4 | -13 | T17 | UP 5 |
| T12 | Harris English | -10 | -3 | -13 | T13 | UP 1 |
| T15 | Brian Harman | -10 | -2 | -12 | T13 | DOWN 2 |
| T15 | Viktor Hovland | -11 | -1 | -12 | 12 | DOWN 3 |
| T15 | Chris Gotterup | -12 | 0 | -12 | T10 | DOWN 5 |
| T18 | JJ Spaun | -4 | -7 | -11 | T25 | UP 7 |
| T18 | Shane Lowry | -10 | -1 | -11 | T13 | DOWN 5 |
| T20 | Maverick McNealy | -6 | -4 | -10 | T23 | UP 3 |
| T20 | Ludvig Aberg | -7 | -3 | -10 | T21 | UP 1 |
| T20 | Akshay Bhatia | -10 | 0 | -10 | T13 | DOWN 7 |
| T23 | Collin Morikawa | -8 | -1 | -9 | T19 | DOWN 4 |
| T23 | Nick Taylor | -8 | -1 | -9 | T19 | DOWN 4 |
| T23 | Harry Hall | -9 | 0 | -9 | T17 | DOWN 6 |
| 26 | Andrew Novak | -4 | -3 | -7 | T25 | DOWN 1 |
| T27 | Jacob Bridgeman | E | 0 | E | T27 | = |
| T27 | Sungjae Im | E | 0 | E | T27 | = |
| 29 | Hideki Matsuyama | +3 | -1 | +2 | 29 | = |
| 30 | Sepp Straka | +7 | -4 | +3 | 30 | = |
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Scottie Scheffler is the biggest loser here. Winning the FedEx Cup under the old system came with a whopping $18 million payday – as opposed to the paltry $10 million dished out to Fleetwood – and the World No.1’s -10 start and -14 score would have been enough to nick it by a point.
Another big mover would have been Rory McIlroy, whose -8 start would have seen him climb 12 places from T23 to 11th.
Going the other way, meanwhile, would have been Akshay Bhatia, who dropped seven spots.
So there we go. Not only have we got our way with the ‘starting strokes’ system being consigned to history, but we finally got to see Fleetwood lift a PGA Tour trophy.
Now go get that major, Tommy. (After you bring the Ryder Cup home, of course…)
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Tommy Fleetwood won his first PGA Tour title at the 2025 Tour Championship.
