Since 2019, the staggered start format in the Tour Championship has given an insurmountable lead of as low as 10-under-par to the FedExCup points leaders of the season. However, with the PGA Tour’s fan-forward initiative, the PAC and the league started discussions around such formats. By January this year, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan had already reported on the possible changes after discussions with broadcasters and players. A month later, the PGA Tour officially announced the elimination of starting strokes from the Tour Championship.

Now, with the FedExCup on the line at East Lake, the field started even on Thursday with Scottie Scheffler, the reigning champion who was also against the format, not gaining the advantage in the 72-hole stroke-play event. Justin Thomas, a vocal critic of the staggered start format, has also voiced his thoughts and why he didn’t like it.

At the end of the first round, Thomas was asked to comment on playing in the TOUR Championship without starting strokes separating him from his peers. The 32-year-old replied, “It’s a weird feeling, and I didn’t enjoy it. I felt like if you’re — I mean, I remember the first year we had starting strokes, I started at 10-under and I hit the first fairway and had 9-iron in and my mind was just in not protect mode, but just — to just like, fairway, green, par, fairway, green, par.

“I had this 9-iron and I hit it like 35 feet past the hole in the middle of the green and I go up there and I’m like, ‘What am I doing? There are 72 holes left in this tournament.'”

The 16-time PGA Tour champion gave everyone a hint at how a player’s mentality changes from the get-go with an advantage. The first time Thomas played in the starting strokes format in 2019, he had come off an excellent win in the BMW Championship. However, the stroke advantage didn’t help him much as he ended up losing the event at East Lake by 10 strokes to Rory McIlroy. The Irishman had started the tournament 5 strokes below Thomas.

Speaking of how things have changed this year, Thomas said, “I had a hard time with that. And then on the other end, starting at even, if you’re not under par on the front nine it feels like your week is over. It’s nice to be a normal tournament.” With no stroke difference, he plays every hole like he would in every other tournament. That makes it easier to mentally adjust to the event’s format. While it may be a minor adjustment to make on paper, it’s difficult to assume how challenging it can be to overcome on the golf course.

Other than Thomas, Scheffler has also suffered the same issue in the past. Despite going into the 2022 TOUR Championship at 10-under par, he was beaten by McIlroy. This was Mr. Inevitable’s first time in the Atlanta event, and he didn’t anticipate the Irishman, who started 6 strokes behind him, catching up and then ending up beating him by 1 stroke. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that the world #1 was also against the concept; “I think it’s silly. You can’t call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament.”

Now, starting strokes are out of the window, and they are back to the pre-2019 era when Tiger Woods last won the TOUR Championship. And both of them have enjoyed their first day out in the fresh start at East Lake.

Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas thrive under the new format at East Lake

After the first round of 18, both Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas have ended up in great positions as they look to end the season on a perfect note. The world #1 shot a flawless 7-under 63. He scored 7 birdies and didn’t make that many errors today. Scheffler only needed to make one sand save and missed the fairway twice throughout the day.

Thomas was heading towards an outstanding round of golf for most of the day. In the first 13 holes, he had scored 7 birdies and was at the top of the board with a 2-stroke lead. However, a series of errors on the 16th hole forced a double bogey for the 2-time major winner.

He ended up adding 1 more birdie to his total before finishing the round at T3, 1 stroke behind Scheffler. With three more rounds to go, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the new format of the TOUR Championship.