The Tour Championship will
return to its traditional place on the schedule as the final official event of
the PGA Tour in 2001, commissioner Tim Finchem said today in announcing minor
changes to the World Golf Championship series.
The Tour Championship,
for only the top 30 on the PGA Tour money list, had been the final event since
its inception in 1987.
That changed a year ago
when the American Express Championship, the last of three $5 million WGC events,
was played at Valderrama in southern Spain a week after the Tour Championship.
It also came a week after
the Volvo Masters, the traditional season-ender on the European Tour. Players
on both sides of the Atlantic complained, saying that an American could decide
the winner of European money list, and vice-versa.
"It allows us to bring
an end to the World Golf Championship series in a more definable way," Finchem
said. "I think that was borne out that week. It makes sense to leave the season
finale to the Tour Championship, which seems to have gotten more and more strength
to it."
The American Express Championship,
for the top 50 in the world and the leaders on five world tour's money lists,
will follow the Tour Championship again this year.
Finchem said the 2001 American
Express will be played in the United States sometime in September, sandwiched
around the Ryder Cup in England. The tournament alternates between America and
Europe.
Finchem also said moving
up the last official WGC event will give the tour more options where to play
it.
"In the U.S., it gives
us virtually every place to play," he said. "Even though Valderrama was a great
test and we look forward to 2000, when we go back in '02, it lets us look at
Scotland and Ireland, which is where we'd like to be the next time."
As for the Match Play Championship
in February, Finchem said the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played Saturday,
with the 36-hole final Sunday.
In the inaugural event,
the round of 16 and the quarterfinals were played Friday, with only the 18-hole
semifinals played on Saturday.
