The purpose of a playoff system is to determine one true champion by allowing only the best teams and players to compete against each other.
So in golf, the FedEx Cup "playoffs" should be, in essence, a special tour where only the most proven players are invited to compete.
Unfortunately, the PGA Tour doesn't understand that.
It seems like almost the entire PGA Tour is invited to the FedEx Cup.
Every week, golf fans are bombarded with endless commercials promoting the "race for the FedEx Cup." They tell us about the immense pressure that PGA players feel week-to-week, struggling hard to make it into the FedEx Cup's $10 million showdown.
But, those commercials are a complete farce. For a sizable portion of the PGA Tour, qualifying for the FedEx Cup is little more than an afterthought.
Next week at the FedEx Cup's first playoff tournament (The Barclays), a massive field of 144 players will be invited.
That's more than half of the 262 PGA Tour players who have earned FedEx Cup points this year!
So, for PGA Tour players, all things being equal, it's actually harder not to make the playoffs!
There's no drama to see who will make the playoffs, and who will be left out.
Shut your eyes for a moment and think about the final days of the NFL and MLB seasons.
- B/R Ticket Guide
There's tons of excitement about teams on the playoff "bubble."
We tune in to see which teams will emerge victorious, elated that they'll have a chance to achieve glory.
We also tune in to see which teams will sulk in defeat, knowing that their hopes to pursue a championship were so close, but extinguished in the blink of an eye.
The FedEx Cup has absolutely none of that drama.
Have a gander at the less-than-mediocre golfers who will be fighting it out for the last spots in the playoffs.
As of today, the players just above the 144-player cut line are: Roland Thatcher, Glen Day, Jeff Overton, and Gavin Coles.
The players just short of the cut line are: Tag Ridings, Todd Hamilton, Justin Bolli, and Brett Rumford.
Boy, excitement will be all around this week at the Wyndham Championship, huh? I bet you'll be glued to your TV to see if Justin Bolli can squeak up the standings to knock out poor Gavin Coles.
Or, on second thought, there's always archery and javelin throwing over on NBC's Olympic coverage.
Over the past few weeks, CBS and the Golf Channel have displayed each players' FedEx Cup point standing in a huge font beside their score graphic.
That would be great if anyone cared. But, quite honestly, I don't tune in to golf to learn that Jon Mills is ranked 138th in FedEx Cup points.
Is it just a bit contradictory that players who consistently miss cuts are invited to what is supposed to be the PGA Tour's grand jewel?
All that being said, the FedEx Cup would be a terrific event if the field were cut down.
Let's say instead of 144 players, the PGA Tour invites only 30 to the FedEx Cup.
Well, now we've got an extraordinary event.
A smaller field ensures that only the season's brightest stars make the playoffs, and adds a tinge of drama to the regular season's final tournaments.
Just hovering above the cut line are Andres Romero, Ben Curtis, Ernie Els, Stephen Ames, and Hunter Mahan.
Just below are Bart Bryant, Rod Pampling, Jerry Kelly, and Woody Austin.
Those are all names that golf fans know and care about.
Therefore, fans will surely be keeping a close eye on those final few tournaments to see who continues to play for enormous sums of cash in the playoffs, and who is off to spend the next month on the range with Butch Harmon and Dave Pelz.
And how about this, PGA: want to add a little spice to the PGA Championship? Make it the final tournament for players to earn FedEx Cup points.
Then, every year the PGA Championship would be important in three different respects: a major championship, the last chance to earn Ryder/President's Cup points, and the last chance to make the FedEx Cup.
How's that for drama?
comments (5) write a comment »
write a new comment
3 months ago
Doubt that PGA Tour players would be happy with only 30 invitees, there by cutting a few hundred players out of four big money tournaments.
But you're right that 144 is way too many. Maybe 60 or 70 would be good.
from 3 months ago
Ryan, you kind of read my mind as to the next article in this series. If the FedEx Cup was cut down to 30 players, there wouldn't be a need to set aside four tournaments for the playoffs.
And as for players complaining about being left out-- well I'm sure the ones who are left out will get along just fine with their seven and eight figure incomes earned by hitting a little white pellet around.
3 months ago
Excellent point about the number of players invited, Kyle. The dwindle down the number of players as the FedEx Cup goes on but as you mentioned, at the start it is nothing more than another PGA Tour event.
I live fairly close to where the Barclays was played last year, and that tournament has been going at this course for some 40 years and I have attended a number of these tournaments and let me tell you, last year's tournament felt absolutely no different to any of the other regular PGA events I have watched there, even though it was the inugural FedEx Cup event. People were more interested in Tiger's decision not to attend than that Steve Stricker one this first event of the so-called golf playoff.
Great work here!!
3 months ago
The Fed Ex Cup is the least interesting thing about the PGA tour. Now that's an accomplishment.
2 months ago
You've got the right idea, but inviting 30 players to the playoffs seems too low. I think the playoffs should be more like the size of a Masters field. Somewhere between 80 and 100 players. They cut the field down to 30 for the Tour Championship anyway, so the first 3 events could still eliminate players.
write a new comment