Latest PGA Tour Changes Will Be Music To Brooks Koepka's Ears

The PGA Tour has made some tweaks to the FedEx Cup bonus pot that has given Brooks Koepka the chance to win the $10m Tour Championship first prize after all

Brooks Koepka smiles during the 2025 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The PGA Tour has announced some changes to the way FedEx Cup points and prize money will be dished out this season - including some good news for Brooks Koepka.

The adjustments are aimed at taking some of the focus off performances during the FedEx Cup Play-Offs and giving more rewards for consistent play throughout the season.

It's billed as just an administrative change in how the prize money for the Tour Championship is labelled, but after Koepka was excluded from winning FedEx Cup bonus money it's a way the PGA Tour have moved the goalposts to allow him the chance to scoop $10m after all.

And that's because the $40m prize fund at East Lake has now been reclassified as Official Money on the PGA Tour and not the FedEx Cup Bonus Money.

As par of the conditions of Koepka coming back under the Returning Member Program, he is unable to benefit from any winnings from the FedEx Cup bonus prize pot.

However, with the change to make it Official Money up for grabs it now means that if Koepka qualifies for the season-ending event he is eligible to pocket some of the $40m prize fund - including the whopping $10m bonus for winning at East Lake.

Opinion is already divided among PGA Tour members on whether Koepka should've been allowed back and if the sanctions placed upon him were tough enough.

Seeing the rules now changed to seemingly to help him qualify for FedEx Cup money he was originally barred from winning is sure to attract even more strong opinions.

What do you think? Should Koepka be allowed to win the Tour Championship $10m? Let us know by joining the conversation below...

Brooks Koepka wearing a black Nike cap and grey polo

(Image credit: Getty Images)

On another financial front, the FedEx Cup Bonus Money of around $100m will now go to the top 125 players in the standings instead of the top 150 - with the cash earmarked for the botton 25 players now being distrubuted further down the golfing ladder.

The PGA Tour website said the changes have been made: "in order to give a more complete representation of a player’s performance across a full season."

Removing starting strokes from the Tour Championship gave everyine who made the final field of 30 a chance of winning at East Lake, and now the Tour wants to make it tougher to qualify.

That means there's now more emphasis on playing well across the season, without a bumper bounty of points and prize money available just for peaking in the play-offs.

"The adjustment in points is designed to reward consistent performance throughout the season while further positioning the Tour Championship as the hardest tournament for which to qualify," said the PGA Tour website.

Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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