PGA TOUR announces changes that will further fan engagement, understanding and drama of FedExCup

[GMR]

I personally think that as soon as a golfer comes from 10 back at the beginning of the week to torch the field, win by 2, and take home the $15mn, that will be some exciting theater that may have some changing their tunes. Certainly a lot more exciting than anything that's going to happen in the current format... which is just the same as any other normal tour stop except with a limited field.

[TheMoneyShot]

This is doubling down on stupid.

 

+1 to that!

[bladehunter]

I can't believe they're actually going through with that nonsense. It sounded like such an absurd rumor. Giving the leader a 10 stroke advantage on the field?! How is that fair in any sense of the word? Why is the PGA so hung up on making sure the Tour Championship winner also wins the FedEx Cup? Am I the only one that doesn't care if the two trophies go to two different people?!

 

What if players "protest" this new change by refusing to play/enter the playoff events next year?

Why would they do that? They literally stand to gain nothing, vs potentially making up to $20mn by playing those same events. What do they care what silly format the PGA Tour throws out...go out and win and take home the check.

 

If I started off an event 10 strokes behind the "leader", without a single stroke being played, I'd protest from a moral standpoint. If you're already in the Top 30 in the standings, you've made enough money to be comfortable and afford to protest.

 

Because if I went out and shot a 62, and the person at the top shot a 71 and beat me...I'd be livid.

 

 

this^^^^ and it will happen... mark my words. so let me get this straight ...a 10 shot head start ? what is that ? net play now ??????

[adam667220]

I was sure that was going to be a link to The Onion. Sadly, I was wrong.

[RobertBaron]

I feel that the Championship needs to be matchplay involving the top 32. If they want an equitable playoff, IMO, that would be the only thing that makes sense. Pretty much every other sport is sudden death (you lose, you're out) no matter how well they did (or didn't do) during the regular season. 36 holes Thursday, 18 Friday, Saturday, and the final pairing Sunday.

 

It just wouldn't be the best TV if it ended up being a Robert Streb vs. Matt Jones finale, sadly, and that impacts everything.

 

That’s why the Tour Championship should be matchplay with only top 16.

[DON SVO]

this^^^^ and it will happen... mark my words. so let me get this straight ...a 10 shot head start ? what is that ? net play now ??????

 

I can't wait for players to get needled for getting handicapped and losing.

 

"Sooooo Brooks spotted you 4 strokes and still reeled you in? LOL!"

[zonadub]

I love the idea. In the past, players had skipped playoff events and still won the FedEx Cup and had wrapped up the Cup before the last event. Can you imagine the Superbowl champion being determined before the game was played or the Patriots deciding to skip their first round of the playoffs and still winning the Superbowl?

 

For me the expectation or comparison to playoffs in other sports in part of the problem, you can't have a "genuine" playoffs series in strokeplay golf.

B

Its a dilemma and I do understand where they are coming from but the handicap compromises the legitimacy of the Tour Championship as a golf tournament.

 

Would be interesting if playoff scoring was cumulative across all events. It essentially becomes a 12 round "super" tournament that spans 3 weeks.

 

After the first 4 rounds, cut to the lowest 90 players

After the next 4 rounds, cut to the lowest 50 players

The "cup" goes to the player with the lowest 12 round total

 

This^^^

 

Each tournament stands on its own. FedEx Cup to the low aggregate over 3 playoff event, 12 rounds. Easy to follow who is winning, but each tournament would actually be relevant.

[GMR]

Not sure why people seem to care so much about each tournament standing on its own. The players don't care, clearly. This is all for entertainment, so why shouldn't they pick the format that the general public will find most entertaining?

[jdl]

I personally think that as soon as a golfer comes from 10 back at the beginning of the week to torch the field, win by 2, and take home the $15mn, that will be some exciting theater that may have some changing their tunes. Certainly a lot more exciting than anything that's going to happen in the current format... which is just the same as any other normal tour stop except with a limited field.

 

Hopefully it happens because it will motive the PGA tour to change the rules once again and maybe they'll come up with something more rational.

[RobS14526]

I love the idea. In the past, players had skipped playoff events and still won the FedEx Cup and had wrapped up the Cup before the last event. Can you imagine the Superbowl champion being determined before the game was played or the Patriots deciding to skip their first round of the playoffs and still winning the Superbowl?

 

For me the expectation or comparison to playoffs in other sports in part of the problem, you can't have a "genuine" playoffs series in strokeplay golf.

 

Its a dilemma and I do understand where they are coming from but the handicap compromises the legitimacy of the Tour Championship as a golf tournament.

 

Would be interesting if playoff scoring was cumulative across all events. It essentially becomes a 12 round "super" tournament that spans 3 weeks.

 

After the first 4 rounds, cut to the lowest 90 players

After the next 4 rounds, cut to the lowest 50 players

The "cup" goes to the player with the lowest 12 round total

 

I kind of like this idea. I would make it low seventy and ties from the regular season make the cut to be in the playoffs and then have no further cuts, but we are on the same page. You could still have stage winners each week.

[puttfordoux]

If you have to contrive up something to generate fan interest, you're being disingenuous. This is not about the fans, its about the players, sponsors, and the powers that be at the tour, all who stand to make a killing from this.

[GMR]

If you have to contrive up something to generate fan interest, you're being disingenuous. This is not about the fans, its about the players, sponsors, and the powers that be at the tour, all who stand to make a killing from this.

The only way they make a killing is through TV ratings, which means fans get a vote. Don't like it, don't watch.

[Hawkeye77]

Correct me if I am wrong but my understanding was that main reason the Tour invented the FedEx Cup race was to keep people interested in the golf season after the return of American Football. The thought was that the added suspense of which millionaire golfer becomes even richer would keep us (I say us but don't really mean it because American Football is not my thing at all) intrigued until the final putt dropped.

 

Turns out that the desired effect simply wasn't there and the number of people watching golf over American Football was pretty much the same as it was before. As a result of that, they are now bringing the the entire season to an end in August (as of next year). By finishing in August, the American Football season will not have started so people will still want to watch golf.

 

The question that leaves me with then, is what is the point in the FedEx Cup? It didn't achieve anything beyond making a bunch of rich guys even richer and the winner of the so called playoffs even with another rejig of the format could still be the guy that got hot at the right time as opposed to the guy that was the best player over the season.

 

 

Yep!

 

And now they've pushed the PGA Championship to spring, and still think just the allure of watching phony "playoffs" will captivate people, just isn't going to happen.

 

I've never been a fan of the playoffs, and it seems like this new stroke thing (stupid) is out of desperation more than anything else.

 

Q School had to go, wraparound season "necessary", lol, some sponsors had to be appeased, PGA moved - all sorts of things have suffered as a result of continuing to fiddle with something that you aren't going to make more than it really ever was - contrived.

 

Contrived yes. But ultimately it's worked in getting great fields for 4 straight regular tour events that wouldn't have attracted those fields without the FedEx money. Have those fields resulted in better ratings? Idk. But it's kept me watching more than I normally would be.

 

All in all that's really the sole purpose in having the playoffs. Determining the Tour Champion or the FedEx Champion is ultimately secondary to keeping players and fans interested in regular tour events after major season ends with pennant races and football season heating up.

 

Nobody really cares who the tour champion is. We know who's had the best year or at least who the few contenders are.

 

But there is a fundamental disconnect between the suggestion that fans are interested just because it's a golf tournament or some slightly different kind of golf tournament vs. "nobody cares who the tour champion is". They really don't care and don't watch much now vs. two or three weeks from now, or if it was all two or three weeks ago.

 

Actually just throwing another $5 mil out there just feeds the disconnect in my opinion.

[bladehunter]

Not sure why people seem to care so much about each tournament standing on its own. The players don't care, clearly. This is all for entertainment, so why shouldn't they pick the format that the general public will find most entertaining?

 

Probably add topless dancers to the 150 marker of every fairway and poisonous snakes in the cup and get new watchers. But that isn’t golf. Neither is this if I’m getting he jist of it.

[jacobEDGE]

I feel that the Championship needs to be matchplay involving the top 32. If they want an equitable playoff, IMO, that would be the only thing that makes sense. Pretty much every other sport is sudden death (you lose, you're out) no matter how well they did (or didn't do) during the regular season. 36 holes Thursday, 18 Friday, Saturday, and the final pairing Sunday.

 

It just wouldn't be the best TV if it ended up being a Robert Streb vs. Matt Jones finale, sadly, and that impacts everything.

 

I've never liked a single elimination style playoff structure. Or single elimination match play event. That's why I love the NHL so much. Series of 7 games. 1 game can easily be a fluke, but winning 4 of 7 isn't.

 

We all know how golf can be. I'm a 4.0 handicap right now, and over the weekend I had TWO 4-putts and FOUR 3-putts in a single round. I don't think I've ever done that in my life. Then the following day, I hit 12/14 fairways, and 11/18 greens. I was on fire. It's so hot and cold. Deciding a playoff with a single elimination match play would be horrible. All it takes is to have one golfer have an "off" day, and they're gone. It's a little closer if it's reserved for just the Tour Championship...but if you started match play out from the beginning...having someone ranked in the 100's take out someone in the Top 10 just because one person had an unusually hot day, or the other person was having a fluke blow up round? Not cool.

 

If you wanna do match play, at least have a small series of it. Make it out of 3, so you have to win 2 out of 3 rounds to advance.

[puttfordoux]

If you have to contrive up something to generate fan interest, you're being disingenuous. This is not about the fans, its about the players, sponsors, and the powers that be at the tour, all who stand to make a killing from this.

The only way they make a killing is through TV ratings, which means fans get a vote. Don't like it, don't watch.

 

There's only one golfer that drives TV ratings, and if he's not playing in the Tour Championship, a lot of people wont watch, no matter what they do or don't do with the format.

 

[nsxguy]

All they had to do was get rid of points once the playoffs start. Earn the points to be in the playoffs, continue to play well to not be eliminated from the playoffs by finishing in the top xx position for that event, win the final tournament and you are champion.

 

How is that different than other sports?

 

In other sports having a great regular season confers a playoff advantage ie home court advantage, first round bye, etc. Resetting points to zero eliminates the strength of a player's season going into the playoffs.

 

No, it doesn't. There are still point rankings into the first playoff event and they AND that tournament's results determine if they move on.

 

If you're in the top 50, it's likely you advance to the 2nd one without even playing in the first one,,,,,,,,,, but the last 50 could easily be eliminated by not producing the the first one.

 

And so on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

The only thing I struggle with is in the last 30, the "Super Bowl" if you will, should everybody start even, or should the points advantages gained year-to-date still count, or even count as much as they do - and that only because the last 15 or so have little to no chance to win the big prize if anyone in the top 5 (or 10 ?) finish IN the top 10. It can get somewhat convoluted.

[manku]

Watching wealthy athletes play for money, and money alone, is just not very interesting. The only people who should care are the players, their family, their agent, their financial adviser and Netjets!

 

The Olympics are riveting despite basically just playing for glory...same with events like The Ryder Cup.

 

This is the reason majors are majors...it's not the field, the money, the course or setup. It's the pressure, prestige and history associated with the event.

[Brass_Bullseye]

Quit screwing with the fall season to compete with football. Nobody cares. Have the season start in January, keep the PGA in August, put the top 30 money winners in the Tour Championship and be done after the Ryder/Presidents Cup. This wrap-around-season-fedex-cup-fake-playoffs stuff is ridiculous.

[canonlbp430]

So they have just eliminated the Tour Championship from world ranking points and official wins?

[stickner]

I love the idea. In the past, players had skipped playoff events and still won the FedEx Cup and had wrapped up the Cup before the last event. Can you imagine the Superbowl champion being determined before the game was played or the Patriots deciding to skip their first round of the playoffs and still winning the Superbowl?

 

For me the expectation or comparison to playoffs in other sports in part of the problem, you can't have a "genuine" playoffs series in strokeplay golf.

 

Its a dilemma and I do understand where they are coming from but the handicap compromises the legitimacy of the Tour Championship as a golf tournament.

 

Would be interesting if playoff scoring was cumulative across all events. It essentially becomes a 12 round "super" tournament that spans 3 weeks.

 

After the first 4 rounds, cut to the lowest 90 players

After the next 4 rounds, cut to the lowest 50 players

The "cup" goes to the player with the lowest 12 round total

 

I kind of like this idea. I would make it low seventy and ties from the regular season make the cut to be in the playoffs and then have no further cuts, but we are on the same page. You could still have stage winners each week.

 

I like your twist to this.

 

If we gave this idea to the PGA Tour, I assume they would figure out a way to factor in sandies, barkies, and dogmeats... :)

[SoMoneyMuchWin]

This system is all so arbitrary. It needs to be completely scrapped and re-thought.

[dlygrisse]

This is just a case of trying too hard. Golf is golf, just play golf. Get the season over with so you don't compete with football and fire up the silly season for those who just like golf, this wrap around season is stupid as well, no one really cares, as much as I love golf all sports need a season that begins and ends with a long break between time. The first weekend of January is not that far away. There is no reason to try and make golf like football or NASCAR. I am looking forward to the Ryder Cup, however.

[GolfChannel]

Can we do the simple thing first and fix the scoring system for FedEx Cup points?

[golfer07840]

I love the idea. In the past, players had skipped playoff events and still won the FedEx Cup and had wrapped up the Cup before the last event. Can you imagine the Superbowl champion being determined before the game was played or the Patriots deciding to skip their first round of the playoffs and still winning the Superbowl?

 

They basically have a 1st round bye every year. They never are in the wild card game and have won 5 Super Bowls.. playing well in the regular season helps

 

Playing in a historically BAD division helps too... but I digress...

 

Not a fan of this new format. Nope, not one bit. Now I care even less than I already did.

[KirkNo-yes]

I love the idea. In the past, players had skipped playoff events and still won the FedEx Cup and had wrapped up the Cup before the last event. Can you imagine the Superbowl champion being determined before the game was played or the Patriots deciding to skip their first round of the playoffs and still winning the Superbowl?

 

Can you imagine, say the Broncos starting down 21-0 against the Bears in the Super Bowl?

 

Okay, I'd enjoy that, but still . . .

 

Oh man if the Patriots got that the country would MELT DOWN. I don't like it. someone above mentioned match play which while is not a true test of everyone against each other I think it would make for a more interesting watch. Give the top seeds a bye and let the others hash it out. I think there should be a reward for the guy who is at number 1 going into the tour championship, he played better than everyone per the rules. I just don't know what the answer is. the points thing (unless you are NASCAR fan) is hard to keep track. I don't think sprinters would like it or long distance runners would like it if people got a 10 yard headstart or 1 mile on the marathon. It just seems flawed. It is very much like a handicap system but at this level everyone is the same. Now...If someone like Tiger wins it and he was at even to start every person at the tour office will be patting themselves on the back till their shoulders fall out of socket.

[MountainGoat]

This is doubling down on stupid.

 

+1 to that!

 

Agree.

[DFS PFD]

And everyone says the PGA is a much better organization than the USGA. This is horrible.

[Darth Putter]

The only good playoff format is match play.

 

The top 32 play for two spots in the semi finals.

 

To appease tv and the fans, Tiger plays Phil in the other semi final.

 

Winners meet for the Tour Championship.

[DavePelz4]

I love the idea. In the past, players had skipped playoff events and still won the FedEx Cup and had wrapped up the Cup before the last event. Can you imagine the Superbowl champion being determined before the game was played or the Patriots deciding to skip their first round of the playoffs and still winning the Superbowl?

 

Can you imagine, say the Broncos starting down 21-0 against the Bears in the Super Bowl?

 

Okay, I'd enjoy that, but still . . .

 

They "gave" the Bears Cutler and we know how THAT worked out!