New Tour Championship Format

[lchang]

Didn't see a thread on this already. What are people's thoughts with the new format this year?

 

The tourney will be handicapped, with the #1 guy in the standings starting off 2 strokes clear of the field and 10 shots ahead of the bottom 5 guys. The winner of the Tour Championship will be one and the same with the winner of the Fedex Cup.

I understand the reasons for doing it, but some (possibly controversial?) scenarios could happen, I think? Someone could take 265 strokes over 4 rounds and be 3 shots better than anyone for the week, but not "win" the tournament. When you do that in any other week (or any past Tour Championship), you'd have a Win and all else that goes with it, but not for this year's Tour Championship. And if that guy is Tiger and the format ends up denying him breaking the PGA Tour wins record, well, wouldn't that be interesting?!

[golfandfishing]

Your line of thinking intrigues me. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[imakaveli]

Tiger wouldn’t have won last year with this new format, somebody in Ponte Vedra is praying it won’t happen this year.

[MattyO1984]

Tiger still has some work to do to actually be there in the first place!

 

As for the format they are using, I get the impression that this is yet another example of the fans and media getting what they want and the Tour changing how they do things but then as soon as they do that the majority view it as a negative. I’m willing to see how it goes and if it breaks up the monotony of the 4 rounds of the same as we have seen all year then I am happy with that.

[MountainGoat]

I like the new format.

[bladehunter]

I doubt it lasts past next year. It will happen soon that someone gets screwed out of a win , and the outcry will change it. Too many on tour that would be a popular win. From Tiger to HV3 to Spieth. And many more. Wins from someone like that , that doesn’t count because of this handicapped scenario won’t end well.

[Naptime]

The players know the format in advance. If they don't wanna play they don't have to.

[SugarPenguin]

Positive

It’s simpler to understand.

 

Negatives

It’s just flat out unfair. Anybody other than Brooks or Rory winning the Fed Ex cup this year is a joke. They have been the most consistent players by far over the season so how can Fatty Reed be projected to go into East Lake with a better chance than Rory ?

Also it doesn’t lead to many interesting scenarios either.

Hopefully it will be gone in a couple of years.

[OldTomMorris]

Great idea as a finale for the season long race but as a tournament its a joke, you can't have a handicapped event on the PGA Tour. Its needs to be renamed the FedEx Cup Final and do away with The Tour Championship just have the winner takes all event.

[OldBridge]

The thing is, why handicap the TOUR Championship and not the BMW too? If they want an actual playoff they should just do an aggregate format starting from round one at the Northern Trust all the way through.

 

Can't say I'm a fan of the change, but they want the winner of the TOUR Championship to win the FedEx Cup so that's why we get what we get.

[buckeye440]

It is flat out dumb, at least from American sports perspective. NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS do not handicap their playoffs other than a bye. Seriously could you imagine if the 16-0 Pats team got like 3 TD lead against the wildcard Giants years back? Yeah, did not think so and it is because Americans love their underdogs. The current format is un-American. The tour could adjust the prizes to give more money to the regular season winner and less to the playoff winner if they want to emphasize the regular season. Could always make it like the EPL and have no playoffs (I think) but then no ability for that sweet FedEx sponsorship money.

[tiderider]

the players wanted the play over the season to count, so that's why they fixed it this way ... probably the best they can make it ...

[kftgolfer]

It’s contrived and reeks of desperation just like the Fed Ex Playoffs itself so it is perfect.

[tiderider]

> @kftgolfer said:

> It’s contrived and reeks of desperation just like the Fed Ex Playoffs itself so it is perfect.

 

i like this take ...

[Titleist_PT23]

> @SugarPenguin said:

> Positive

> It’s simpler to understand.

>

> Negatives

> It’s just flat out unfair. Anybody other than Brooks or Rory winning the Fed Ex cup this year is a joke. They have been the most consistent players by far over the season so how can Fatty Reed be projected to go into East Lake with a better chance than Rory ?

> Also it doesn’t lead to many interesting scenarios either.

> Hopefully it will be gone in a couple of years.

Even Cantlay is ahead of Koepka now. The guy won once during the season and a T12, 2nd in the playoffs ranks him 2nd. Granted, he was ranked in the single digits for a good portion of the season but even if he wins it next week does anyone think he had a better season than Brooks? Like I said earlier, I just don't think winning the Tour Championship/FedEx Cup means your the "champion" like it does in other playoffs.

 

That being said, I get why the playoffs are setup this way to try and get as many people as possible to play ($10 MM is a pretty good clip for a bunch of these guys. Others like Tiger, Rory, Phil not so much the $$$ itself).

[jtitleist12]

I think the new format is kind of dumb...starting guys off at predetermined scores is ridiculous.

 

It’s just a big cash grab sponsored by FedEx but why not just award the cash to whomever has the most points after an entire year? Why the need to constantly tweak and reaccumulate points?

 

Look at Patrick Reed for example...he was garbage all year and wins last week and gets quadruple the points...why? For a player that wins one time late in the year to potentially win the FedEx Cup for supposed season long consistency shouldn’t be able to happen.

[Fade]

It would be better if they handed out mulligans instead of strokes.

[CCTxGolf]

I get that the playoffs should be weighted heavier than a normal tour event because they are the playoffs. Quadruple is sort of crazy though. Like someone else said, and I really didn’t think badly of the format until I read the statement, reed played somewhat poorly over the last year + and he wins one tournament and is catapulted to the lead. Then The same for JT.

 

It’s just not really very representative of the whole season. And the Fed Ex cup is marketed as a race for the whole season...

 

Also only 2 of 4 major winners made it to the final. That’s sort of bunk too.

[Mcgeeno]

I'm open minded and willing to give it a shot.

 

I hated the "if Molinari makes this six foot putt he jumps from 21 in the Fedex cup to a projected 9th spot!" type of crap. Or "If Furyk finishes no worse than 8th week and Rose gets 4th or worse Furky wins the Fedex but only if Rahm gets 16th"

 

I'm willing to see how a real leaderboard shakes out.

[dalehead]

I’m rooting for a finish like this:

Dustin Johnson 268 (gross score)

Rickie Fowler and Tommy Fleetwood 269

Patrick Reed 270

Figure in the handicaps and Patrick Reed wins the Tour Championship and the Fed Ex Cup. This board will melt down. Buying extra Jiffy Pop this week to be ready.

[BrianMcG]

It's not one tournament. This is for the FED EX CUP. So the formats a bit different than anything else. So be it. At least we don't need a calculus degree to figure out who's in the lead. And they can do away with the "If the tournament ended right now..." garbage.

[Bingo1976]

Change it to top 32 matchplay. Winner takes it all.

[Soloman1]

They need to add the rule that you can tackle your playing partner 2 times per side. It fits with the whole wrestling theme.

[Ignatius Reilly]

> @agolf1 said:

> > @SugarPenguin said:

> > Positive

> > It’s simpler to understand.

> >

> > Negatives

> > It’s just flat out unfair. Anybody other than Brooks or Rory winning the Fed Ex cup this year is a joke. They have been the most consistent players by far over the season so how can Fatty Reed be projected to go into East Lake with a better chance than Rory ?

> > Also it doesn’t lead to many interesting scenarios either.

> > Hopefully it will be gone in a couple of years.

> Even Cantlay is ahead of Koepka now. The guy won once during the season and a T12, 2nd in the playoffs ranks him 2nd. Granted, he was ranked in the single digits for a good portion of the season but even if he wins it next week does anyone think he had a better season than Brooks? Like I said earlier,** I just don't think winning the Tour Championship/FedEx Cup means your the "champion" like it does in other playoffs.**

>

> That being said, I get why the playoffs are setup this way to try and get as many people as possible to play ($10 MM is a pretty good clip for a bunch of these guys. Others like Tiger, Rory, Phil not so much the $$$ itself).

In any playoffs, there are upsets and Cinderella stories. The "best" team doesn't always win. There's nothing really changed about that with the new format: Does anyone really think Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker or Billy Horschel were the best players in the years they won it?

I'm willing to give it a try and see how it all works out. Not that there's much choice, other than just not watching, and I'm gonna watch. Even if it turns out to be a train wreck, those are pretty interesting to watch....

[ray9898]

I'm good with it. You know where everyone stands, no mathematical calculations and spread sheets needed. Also, it is a way of placing weight on the season long performance.

[MidwestGolfBum]

I'm keeping an open mind to it all. I'm hoping they take some of the things that are learned from this year, and do what they can to tweak things in years going forward. Not having to hear "if the tournament was to end right now" 1090127270395023985 times over the weekend is going to be something that I am very much looking forward to as everybody is going to know exactly where each player stands. Seeing the changes in position over the last 2 events makes me think that maybe those points should be cut down a bit or points for some events earlier in the year need to be changed, but overall, it's fairly clear who is doing what.

 

As has been said by a few, I wouldn't mind watching a matchplay for the final 32 guys. I understand that's a ratings nightmare and can be a HUGE problem with ratings, so it doesn't happen.

[Z1ggy16]

I like it. Eliminates a lot of "what ifs" and avoids the weird scenario where somebody wins the Cup but does not win the final event and vice versa. It also rewards the top few guys who played good all year long with a fairly sizeable advantage over guys who barely crept in. With only a 10 shot differential and no cut anything could still happen.

[FairwaysToHeaven]

i keep hearing that officials wanted to eliminate the confusion in points and ensure the winner of the last tournament is also the overall winner.

 

are you telling me if Finau loses to JT by one shot the golf world isn't going to know that finau actually beat JT during the week by 6 shots and JT was gifted a 7 stroke lead over finau?

 

i'm not sure there is any setup that rewards great play throughout the year while also ensuring the best performing player in the 'playoffs' wins the championship. koepka has had by far the best season. so we need to decide if this is a true playoffs or if he deserves to have this wrapped up with a mediocre finish this week.

 

the only way to get a true overall champion is to use the points system to work your way down to final limited number of players and do match play from there.

 

take the top 6 players, give 1 and 2 seed first round bye...and do a weekend of match play. this ensures a worthy winner rather than doing top 32 match play. we'll get big names playing match...something we rarely get outside of ryder cup. as it is now...top 6 would be.

 

3v6 Koepka v Rahm

4v5 Reed v McIlroy

1 - JT

2 - Cantlay

 

 

 

[JaNelson38]

> @HoosierMizuno said:

> i keep hearing that officials wanted to eliminate the confusion in points and ensure the winner of the last tournament is also the overall winner.

>

> are you telling me if Finau loses to JT by one shot the golf world isn't going to know that finau actually beat JT during the week by 6 shots and JT was gifted a 7 stroke lead over finau?

>

> the only way to get a true overall champion is to use the points system to work your way down to final 8 or 4 players and do match play from there. i'm not sure there is any setup that rewards great play throughout the year while also ensuring the best performing player in the 'playoffs' wins the championship. koepka has had by far the best season. so we need to decide if this is a true playoffs or if he deserves to have this wrapped up with a mediocre finish this week.

>

>

 

I agree with this, but would go one step further. You could actually take the top 32 from the second to last event of the year, seed them in match play for a 4-day event, and determine the FedExCup winner. Losers in the first round would play each other based on seeding on Friday to determine positions 17-32 in the final standings to make sure everyone is guaranteed at least two matches. Losers in the second round play each other based on seeding Saturday to determine positions 9-16. Losers in the round of 8 play each other based on seeding on Sunday after the first final four match to determine spots 5-8. That way Sunday there is more than just 2 matches to televise; it would help the viewing public to see a couple other matches on the course going before the final two matches.

 

Determine the winner on the field, just like any other sport, in heads-up games. That would pretty much eliminate any confusion, as well as make it as level of a playing field as possible.

 

[dalehead]

> @ray9898 said:

> I'm good with it. You know where everyone stands, no mathematical calculations and spread sheets needed. Also, it is a way of placing weight on the season long performance.

 

No it doesn't place weight on season long performance. It places weight on playoff performance. Exhibit A, Justin Thomas who had an injury plagued season but is number 1 because of one playoff victory. Exhibit B, Patrick Reed who had a pretty lackluster season but sits at number 4 based on his playoff win.