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

[BrianMcG]

Just because so many on WRX hate it probably means it's a great idea.

 

 

Go check out all the replies to PGA Tour's Twitter account? Seems to be 100% disapproval rating from golf fans.

 

LOL, Twitter.

 

Yep. Twitter is showing just over 100 comments, and 193 likes. That’s pretty much everyone.

[Holy Moses]

Only one FedEx Cup champion would not have won had this format been used all along. Luke Donald would have won in 2011. There's no perfect way to setup the FedEx Cup, but clearly this is easier for the players to follow.

[bogeypro]

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?

 

on the flip side... could you image starting off the super bowl by giving the patriots a 2 touchdown lead before it even kicks off?!! This is stupid beyond stupid.... next level stupid.

[Holy Moses]

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?

 

on the flip side... could you image starting off the super bowl by giving the patriots a 2 touchdown lead before it even kicks off?!! This is stupid beyond stupid.... next level stupid.

 

As of now the players get a head start with points, so is it really that much different?

[PGArox]

One word ... lame.

[Ignatius Reilly]

Only one FedEx Cup champion would not have won had this format been used all along. Luke Donald would have won in 2011. There's no perfect way to setup the FedEx Cup, but clearly this is easier for the players to follow.

 

Does anyone think Luke Donald would have played any differently in 2011?

 

I'm pretty sure that all the guys head to East Lake trying to play their very best and win the championship. If, somehow, they end up winning $10 million and the Fedex? They'll take that too.

 

No one is laying up on some hole to play it safe to win the Fedex Cup while giving up a chance at the Tour Championship. In part because of pride, but mostly because it's too complicated so they just go with "let's win this thing now".

[Nard_S]

Tour Championship should be match play event, brackets based on points, maybe it once was , dunno, Fed Ex points and cup bore me beyond tears.

[Holy Moses]

Tour Championship should be match play event, brackets based on points, maybe it once was , dunno, Fed Ex points and cup bore me beyond tears.

 

It's the way to have a true playoff, but it can make for a boring final round and the TV advertisers hate it

[nyrican52884]

I didn't read through the 150+ comments (more than Twitter, lol), so sorry if this was mentioned.

 

The PGA needs to come to terms with the fact that nobody is watching golf over their NFL game. I'll watch if my team isn't on TV (Miami Dolphins fan living in Jacksonville, FL), but no way am I missing my team over fedex cup.

 

BTW, the wrap around season is another terrible idea.

[Holy Moses]

I didn't read through the 150+ comments (more than Twitter, lol), so sorry if this was mentioned.

 

The PGA needs to come to terms with the fact that nobody is watching golf over their NFL game. I'll watch if my team isn't on TV (Miami Dolphins fan living in Jacksonville, FL), but no way am I missing my team over fedex cup.

 

BTW, the wrap around season is another terrible idea.

 

Well unless you've been living under a rock, that's why they are moving the entire PGA Tour season around beginning next year. Trying to get done with the season before football starts. Yes, the next season starts in the fall, but they still make plenty of money with the fall events on Golf Channel during the football season than ust scrapping the entire thing so that there is no competition with football.

[nyrican52884]

I didn't read through the 150+ comments (more than Twitter, lol), so sorry if this was mentioned.

 

The PGA needs to come to terms with the fact that nobody is watching golf over their NFL game. I'll watch if my team isn't on TV (Miami Dolphins fan living in Jacksonville, FL), but no way am I missing my team over fedex cup.

 

BTW, the wrap around season is another terrible idea.

 

Well unless you've been living under a rock, that's why they are moving the entire PGA Tour season around beginning next year. Trying to get done with the season before football starts. Yes, the next season starts in the fall, but they still make plenty of money with the fall events on Golf Channel during the football season that just scrapping the entire thing.

Yeah, our tournament around these parts is the Players which as you know is moving back to March. Mixed feelings around here as the weather in March is hit or miss. 75% chance it will be cold or windy or rainy. In May its a 75%chance of good weather and the bad weather was just a heat wave in the 90s.

[Chef Otto]

This is a joke..........I like this idea more.

 

3 tournament playoff for a limited field say 50 players.

 

Each tournament is 4 rounds no cuts and has a winner.

 

Cumulative scores are kept for all 3 tournaments.

 

The top 8 players with lowest cumulative score plus the winners of the 3 tornaments if they are outside the top 8 then play a one round event at East Lake the following day for the Fed Ex cup and the bonus money winner takes all.

 

Just my ,02

[PumaAttack]

Lol at people comparing golf to football. Lol.

 

Team game vs individual sport.

 

The only fair comparison is bike racing and earning a lead by your past peformance. This is the EXACT same deal.

[bladehunter]

Lol at people comparing golf to football. Lol.

 

Team game vs individual sport.

 

The only fair comparison is bike racing and earning a lead by your past peformance. This is the EXACT same deal.

 

except it isnt.... if they took 3 or 4 events and made it a cumulative score for all rounds ....THEN youd have a point...

[Doyouevenblade]

If you want to make it simpler, match play.

 

If you want to make it more exciting, match play.

 

Have a set number of players get a first round bye as a reward for playing well earlier in the year. Everyone else is ranked off points.

 

Or if you want to make it really exciting.... The highest ranking player gets to pick their opponent each round. #2 picks his opponent, #3 his, etc....

[bogeypro]

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?

 

on the flip side... could you image starting off the super bowl by giving the patriots a 2 touchdown lead before it even kicks off?!! This is stupid beyond stupid.... next level stupid.

 

As of now the players get a head start with points, so is it really that much different?

 

points aren't the same as a score. Honestly, I could care less about who wins the cup - that's just for the rich boys to get more rich. I'm interested in the golf. To me, spotting points is just ridiculous.

[bbedell]

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.

 

Pretty sure there's still going to be a TC tournament winner. That guy gets a cheque, an official win, exemptions, etc. Might not be the same guy as the Fedex Cup winner, but that scenario happened with the current system too.

 

Pretty sure the purpose of the handicap is so there is one (and the same) winner of both the final event, Tour Championship, and the FedEx Cup. Winner takes all - everything.

 

Havent read all of the replies yet, but this is the first guy I've seen who gets it. The new system ensures that there are no situations like last year where the TC winner is not the Fedex cup winner...which I like because that situation was super anti-climactic. Seeing two guys up there holding two different trophies is ridiculous.

 

As for the guy who said there is no way you can win the tournament spotting someone 10 strokes, that's just plain wrong. There is only one player the 26-30 seeds are giving 10 strokes to. I will concede that the guys at 26-30 who start at even par have a very low chance of winning the tourney since there are 25 other guys they have to outplay. But if the guy at #1 has a bad week and a guy at #30 has a good week, it would be very feasible for #30 to jump over #1. He likely will not jump all the way to the top spot, but he will finish ahead of the guy who started the tourney as #1. All it takes is a couple of blow up holes and that 10 stroke lead is toast.

 

The Wyndham stuff is just silly and is clearly meant to boost participation in a small end of year tourney that is put on by a big sponsor.

[0351Duffer]

Not only no...but Hell No! Giving any player minus par strokes prior to the start of a tourney is just plain stupid! Wow....just...Wow. SMH. :-(

[OldTomMorris]

The OWGR sound very skeptical and I hope they stand their ground, credibility will be massively dented if the 2019 Tour Championship carries OWGR points.

 

For an "irregular" event to get credited with OWGR points they need to submit a proposal its not a given.

[Dave230]

The OWGR sound very skeptical and I hope they stand their ground, credibility will be massively dented if the 2019 Tour Championship carries OWGR points.

 

For an "irregular" event to get credited with OWGR points they need to submit a proposal its not a given.

 

A field of 30 getting so many points is already tough on those not in the tournament. Getting extra points for an event that is rigged in your favour from the start isn't right.

[Holy Moses]

The OWGR sound very skeptical and I hope they stand their ground, credibility will be massively dented if the 2019 Tour Championship carries OWGR points.

 

For an "irregular" event to get credited with OWGR points they need to submit a proposal its not a given.

 

A field of 30 getting so many points is already tough on those not in the tournament. Getting extra points for an event that is rigged in your favour from the start isn't right.

 

I’ve never heard a Tour player complain about this

[ghostrider]

What's next - a few windmills on the green? This seems like it was thought up on "bring your kid to work" day with no adult supervision after.

[OldTomMorris]

The OWGR sound very skeptical and I hope they stand their ground, credibility will be massively dented if the 2019 Tour Championship carries OWGR points.

 

For an "irregular" event to get credited with OWGR points they need to submit a proposal its not a given.

 

A field of 30 getting so many points is already tough on those not in the tournament. Getting extra points for an event that is rigged in your favour from the start isn't right.

 

I've never heard a Tour player complain about this

 

Surely they'd take issue with a handicapped event being an OWGR credited event.

[BlackM00Nlight]

Dumb. Wonder what the pros are saying? Essentially made it so those at even will never win.

[Nard_S]

Tour Championship should be match play event, brackets based on points, maybe it once was , dunno, Fed Ex points and cup bore me beyond tears.

 

It's the way to have a true playoff, but it can make for a boring final round and the TV advertisers hate it

 

And yet Ryder Cup is wildly successful. How about the Fed Ex points translates to real dollars and the players play for winner take all on every match? Might motivate them to grind it out.

[GMR]

Tour Championship should be match play event, brackets based on points, maybe it once was , dunno, Fed Ex points and cup bore me beyond tears.

 

It's the way to have a true playoff, but it can make for a boring final round and the TV advertisers hate it

 

And yet Ryder Cup is wildly successful. How about the Fed Ex points translates to real dollars and the players play for winner take all on every match? Might motivate them to grind it out.

Ryder Cup isn't a knockout format where you might end up with Webb Simpson playing against Aaron Wise in the end with no one else on the course for the cameras to cut to.

[sirparalot]

I am fine with the changes based upon how they were framed by the tour. The goal was to have a similar system where the top five have the best chance to win based upon previous performance and those outside still have a chance (no matter how slim). The tour was not trying to reinvent the playoff they were just trying to find a way to make the results easier to follow either on TV or in person using a system that every golf fan is familiar with. There was an article that showed what the top 30 had to do to win and by the time you got to number 10 on the list the number of scenarios was just too much to deal with and even worse to have golf announcers prattling on over the scenarios. This new system basically still gives the top 5 the best chance and it makes the guys at the bottom have to play out of their minds and those ahead of them to completely fall apart in order to win (basically the same as with the current scenarios with what has to happen with other players for someone outside the top 5 to win). Its easy to understand. They could have used points vs strokes and the purists among you would not be calling it handicapping but it would be back to multiple scenarios and endless babbling on air. The only change I would make is that there is no tour championship as a separate tournament or winner. The tournament is the Tour Championship to win the Fedex cup. The player with the lowest differential from par including the credit for past performance wins for the year not the week. If a players differential is 15 under par at the end of the 72 holes and ends up in 10th place because they got seeded low and needed to be 20 under to win the year long trophy then that is the spot they earned for the year not the week. They receive all the awards they earned for their year long performance. Playing great all year gives you a better chance. Its basically the same system that favors top 5 over the rest just packaged to be understood at every point during the final tournament. In the end does it really matter. The players will vote on the POY based upon who they felt had the best performance for the year and it will be Brooks Koepka. Ask Brooks if he would trade his 2 majors this year for the Fed Ex cup. The answer would be no!!!

[Holy Moses]

The OWGR sound very skeptical and I hope they stand their ground, credibility will be massively dented if the 2019 Tour Championship carries OWGR points.

 

For an "irregular" event to get credited with OWGR points they need to submit a proposal its not a given.

 

A field of 30 getting so many points is already tough on those not in the tournament. Getting extra points for an event that is rigged in your favour from the start isn't right.

 

I've never heard a Tour player complain about this

 

Surely they'd take issue with a handicapped event being an OWGR credited event.

 

Kind of like they take issue with Tiger’s event being awarded OWGR points? The Tour stoops to their moneymakers and that’s not going to stop at the Tour Championship.

[Holy Moses]

Tour Championship should be match play event, brackets based on points, maybe it once was , dunno, Fed Ex points and cup bore me beyond tears.

 

It's the way to have a true playoff, but it can make for a boring final round and the TV advertisers hate it

 

And yet Ryder Cup is wildly successful. How about the Fed Ex points translates to real dollars and the players play for winner take all on every match? Might motivate them to grind it out.

 

The Ryder Cup is a totally different ball of wax. The ratings will be pretty good regardless of how close the matches are.

 

Pros like guaranteed money. All or nothing is not something that will pull them in.

[p3ga]

Dumb. Wonder what the pros are saying? Essentially made it so those at even will never win.

 

Can't wait to hear DJ's usual deep and insightful feedback on the impending changes.