Are the FedEx Cup Playoffs ‘Stupid’? Yes, But Scottie Scheffler Knows Why
Two weeks ago, Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 and current leader of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, called the premise of the entire competition “nonsense.”
“You can’t call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament,” Scheffler said in Memphis, Tenn. “Hypothetically, we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn’t heal like it did at The Players, I finish 30th in the FedEx Cup because I had to pull out of the last tournament? Is that really a season-long race? No. It is what it is.”
In Scheffler’s mind, the FedEx Cup Playoffs instead identify “the guy who does the best in those playoff events,” not the best player throughout the season. Take Keegan Bradley, the 50th and final player to reach the BMW Championship, who then won in Denver on Sunday to move up to No. 4 in the rankings. He enters this week’s tournament at 6-under-par, just four strokes behind Scheffler. Bradley has a solid shot at winning the $25 million bonus at the end of the week in Atlanta.
“I would use Keegan Bradley as a great example of what the playoffs are,” Scheffler said Tuesday. “You can have someone who hasn’t had his best year, and then all of a sudden he turns it into what could be his best year or one of his best years on tour.”
In essence, what Scheffler is describing is not a season-long competition. All fair points, right? Why call this a season-long race if that’s just not what it is?
It’s more complicated than that. The bone Scheffler is striking with the Tour Championship is precisely why the format changed to the “starting strokes” model in 2019. In the eyes of the tour, by awarding strokes to each player based on their position in the standings at the start of the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup balances the responsibilities of a season-long race with one that ends with a single winner.
GALLING DEEPER
What is the Creator Classic? Inside the PGA Tour’s Attempt to Attract YouTube Golfers
The PGA Tour wanted the FedEx Cup to culminate in one tournament, one champion: the player who wins the Tour Championship wins the FedEx Cup. It’s flashy. It’s (somewhat) easy to follow. The broadcast doesn’t have to be constantly interrupted by a dizzying graphic of the points system changing in real time. We can just watch a golf tournament that’s just a golf tournament with $25 million at stake.
In the previous format, the Tour Championship effectively had two champions: the player who performed best at East Lake, and the top finisher. This most famously led to the 2018 scene where fans surrounded Tiger Woods on the 18th fairway after he won the former, but Justin Rose won the latter.
Now, the Tour Championship points are frozen and converted to strokes: Scheffler starts the week at 10 under, Xander Schauffele at 8 under, Hideki Matsuyama at 7 under, Bradley at 6 under and Ludvig Åberg at 5 under. Then, 6-10 starts at 4 under. 11-15 are at 3 under; 16-20 at 2 under; 21-25 at 1 under and 26-30 at even par.
FedEx sponsorship has seeped into the PGA Tour’s playoff system. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
It’s still confusing. And Scheffler still doesn’t get it. What does the FedEx Cup mean if it’s not an accurate representation of what the PGA Tour calls it: a season-long race?
“I think we need a full season race. I think the FedExCup has been really good for our tour and for the game. I think it’s something exciting to end the year with,” Scheffler said. “Personally, I didn’t mind the old format that much. When I saw it, I was interested in who was going to finish where and I didn’t necessarily care that the Tour Championship winner wasn’t the FedExCup winner. It takes some of the volatility out of it, which is a negative.”
“In terms of the whole season race, I think I deserved to win the whole season race given the amount of times I’ve won and winning a play-off event, but at the end of the day we get here and it’s like, well, what we’ve worked for all year to have a great finish on TV is now gone.”
Therein lies the problem: the importance of ‘the product’.
Scheffler gave a long, honest tirade on Tuesday about the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup format. Some of his answers were so long that Schauffele, next on the media schedule, had to wait in the corner of the media tent for nearly 10 minutes to listen to Scheffler give his opinion. You can tell that Scheffler has thought about this subject at length. In doing so, the world No. 1 not only identified the problem with the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He pointed out exactly what is holding the PGA Tour back as an organization in general.
Scheffler’s recognition of why the Tour Championship is pointless — and his acceptance of that reason — is telling given the state of the professional game. In the face of the LIV threat, the PGA Tour is racked by conflicting priorities that are tearing it in different directions. What do the players want? What do the fans want? What do the networks want? It doesn’t matter. None of this could happen without the sponsors — they keep the tour going, and they always win.
“It really comes down to the guys who are putting up the money for us to play,” Scheffler said. “At the end of the day, we have sponsors for our tournaments and they want it a certain way, and if FedEx is putting up the kind of money that they’re putting up for this event, then we have to play it their way. It’s that simple.”
Despite sharing his views in recent weeks, Scheffler concluded his press conference by stating that he is no longer interested in sharing his views on this topic in the future, at least not in the eyes of the public.
“All I can do is show up, compete and give my input where it’s needed,” Scheffler said. “Sometimes it can get blown out of proportion when I sit here and give my input.”
Scheffler knows where he can be valuable, and he knows where he can’t be valuable. That’s just where we are right now on the PGA Tour. And that’s saying something.
(Top photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
