ATLANTA – The 2007 New England Patriots didn’t win the Super Bowl, despite a 16-0 flawless season. They added Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss that season to an elite offensive lineup, but couldn’t bring home the Lombardi Trophy. The 1906 Chicago Cubs went 116-36, statistically one of the best seasons in baseball to this day, but ended up on the wrong side of a World Series to city rivals the Chicago White Sox. It’s the brutal nature of the playoff sports culture, and PGA TOUR pros are all for it.

“I'm sure everybody aside from Scottie Scheffler loves the fact that we're all starting on a level playing field,” Fleetwood said jokingly on Tuesday.

“I think it's exciting,” Fleetwood added on a more serious note. “It's probably more exciting for the players to come here, everybody on a level field, knowing it's an unbelievable opportunity to have a great week, win the tournament and obviously leave here unbelievably happy.”

For the first time, it’s "winner takes all" at the TOUR Championship where the player with the lowest 72-hole total on Sunday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta will collect golf’s ultimate prize, the FedExCup. It's part of a series of changes made as the PGA TOUR continues to evolve and respond to feedback from fans and players as part of the Fan Forward initiative.

“Once you get to the TOUR Championship, you've had a great season, and now you have an opportunity to go out and win the FedExCup. But you have to play good golf at the right time,” said reigning FedExCup champion Scottie Scheffler on the format change.

A new mindset is needed from every player in the field for the all-or-nothing gauntlet that has been 33 weeks in the making. Just ask Rory McIlroy, who’s won the FedExCup a record three times.

“It has a different feel,” McIlroy said Tuesday. “Anyone of the 30 has a chance to win the FedExCup this year, which is obviously a lot different than it's been in previous years. I think with that, it's a clean slate for everyone, and it's a great opportunity for one of the guys that maybe wasn't a huge part of the season to put their hand up and have a chance to win the big prize at the end of the year.

“It's also a great opportunity for some of the guys that have had great years to sort of rubber-stamp the season a little bit and end on a really, really positive note.”

With the new format, every player in the field will need to have their full focus from start to finish; there’s no free-wheeling it for four days.

“It has the opportunity to be an unbelievable week in the sense of, you could have 15, 20 guys that have a chance to win on Sunday, which is pretty cool when it comes to in terms of the FedExCup,” said 2017 FedExCup champion Justin Thomas.

Thomas added that in years past, winning the FedExCup was “very dependent on where you were” in the standings entering the TOUR Championship, with “your week was pretty quickly determined” by as early as the first day. But now, with the format change and anyone’s ability to win, the pressure has been emphasized not only at East Lake but also on the first two stops of the FedExCup Playoffs.

“After finishing 31st last year, it’s really important,” Brian Harman said regarding his return to the TOUR Championship after missing out in 2024. “I didn’t realize how much it was bothering me until Memphis this year. It was a real big mental struggle as I started in the exact same spot as I started in Memphis last year. Started at 20th and dropped to 31st last year and I was just gutted. … To be back here with a chance at the FedExCup and all sorts of other stuff is awesome.”

It’s a chance that Harman and the 29 others teeing up on Thursday have still earned from a season of hard work and dedication. They grind week-in, week-out to be the best on the PGA TOUR. This time, though, the stakes are higher. On an even playing field, only one can walk away as FedExCup champion, while others may be added to the list of best to never win a title, a harsh reality felt by the 2007 Patriots or 1906 Cubs.