FedEx Cup Restructuring

[JStapp]

We all know the FedEx cup has evolved from certain issues throughout the years. Does the playoff's motivate you to watch even more or less? I'm not sold on the starting at -10 for the FedEx leader, -8 for 2nd place, and so on. Is there a better way? 

If you were to restructure the playoff's for the season, how would you run it? Even if it is a crazy idea, lets hear it! 

[Quigleyd]

I would actually make it a play off. Points reset at the beginning. I also would play in TN and GA in August. 

[vandyland]

Match Play (will never happen) would be nice. Give the top whatever seeds a bye and then the higher ranked player in each match gets some sort of advantage like he gets to choose the holes they will play (say it is a 9 hole match to keep the total number of holes manageable - could create some traffic issues on the course) or the tees they use or something. Just thinking outside of the box here. 

[Hook DeLoft]

I can't think of any change that would make it more interesting for me.  I do watch the tournaments but I really don't care about the points race.  I guess I just think of golf as one tournament at a time.  IIRC, the idea was taken from NASCAR.  I don't watch NASCAR, but for those that do, do you find the NASCAR points race exciting? 

I tell you one thing that would make the PGA Tour more interesting for me.  Instead of the "elevated events", require the players to play in one or two small market tournaments a year.  The fans of those tournaments would love it and it would show that the Tour really appreciates the fans.

[BillyEnforcee]

I'm OK with the -10 start. Becomes a 5 day tournament where effectively on Wednesday Scottie shot a 65 and 5 guys shot 75 and everyone else in between. All these guys have Sports Psychologists they can manage the "mindset" of starting ahead or behind.

For how dominating Scottie has been and Xander not far behind I don't think their lead is big enough.

I think they should look at people's scores on a percentage based system compared to the guy in 1st. Currently Scottie has almost 2x the points of Hideki and only starts 3 ahead of him. Technically he earned 58% of Scottie which could suggest he should start at -6 instead of -7.

With this logic I think last weekend plays out differently. 1) did Scottie go through the motions knowing his 1st place was safe and the Altitude adjustments beat him up? Or does he grind for top 5 because it might mean a greater advantage on the entire field come this week? 2) I don't know the extent of Hidekis injury he luckily didn't drop in the rankings but had the correct people get top 3 he could have dropped 3 places and therefore 3 strokes. So I'm sure it was a calculated decision 3 more days of rest could make up for potential lost shots. BUT Maybe if his injury was minor he grinds for a top 10 to close the gap and start closer to Scottie?

Just my 2 cents.

Edited August 28 by BillyEnforcee

[Hook DeLoft]

5 hours ago, BillyEnforcee said:

I'm OK with the -10 start. Becomes a 5 day tournament where effectively on Wednesday Scottie shot a 65 and 5 guys shot 75 and everyone else in between.

This is the way I think of it.

[Shrek74]

I think they should do it similarly to what the old Accenture match play was.

You have 10 groups of 3, etc up something like 1/15/30, 2/14/29, etc. 3 days of round robin play. 2 points for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for loss.

The winners of each group are put into a 10 player match play playoff. First round is like NCAA, highest seed vs lowest, second highest vs second lowest, etc. Reschuffle the seedings at each round so the highest remaining seed always plays the lowest remaining seed. Then run that all the way to the final and that's a 36 hole one day final.

That's a lot of golf, but use the entire week to do it in, not just 4 days. I think this makes being first in the FedEx race a bit more helpful than the current 2 shot lead starting point.

Edited August 28 by Shrek74

[ballhawk]

The playoffs, First event X number of players qualify for the field and everybody plays heads up. Second event same format but with less players and it's again heads up just like a regular tour event. Why the final event with the top 30 becomes a hdcp format just really escapes me. One would surely think that those who were at the bottom of the strokes allotted would not have a winning mindset and most likely be hoping for a decent paycheck, because they had a snowballs chance to begin with. This playoff could have had some of the biggest bang for the buck if everybody started even, just like every other tournament they play. 

 

[Josh Parker]

I think heads up without the added handicap. Not a fan.  Just like an elevated event, the money is higher for the finals. To me it doesn't change who wins for the year at all.  Points are still added to totals.  Let's say Scotty was 1000pts ahead and the last tournament was worth 500 for first and a 30th ranked player won. He would win the tourney but Scotty finishing 5th would still win for the year and make his money.  

[Hook DeLoft]

One thing to remember and, perhaps, glaringly obvious, is that the points awarded for different events and finishing positions is arbitrary.  The points awarded for a first place finish and a last place finish after the cut could be bunched much tighter and the "race" would be much tighter.  But I still wouldn't care.

[mardukes]

I never liked the idea that they had to combine the tournament with the cup.  I'm offended that they deemed us too stupid to understand the difference.

Hence, I move they create the Schaufele Cup.  Something for the gross winner -- this year to Morikawa.  I haven't researched to see if some other name is more deserving, but considering the handicap is relatively new, I think Xander would have gotten it more than once; more than anyone else.

Also, the Burns Cup.  This one is awarded to the highest earning player to finish behind the champion's caddie in earnings -- assuming 10% on the whole kit and kaboodle.

10-Patrick Cantlay $6,279,965

11-Sam Burns $6,185,830  (he got no Comcast Top 10 bonus to confuse this though I don't think this number includes his FedEX bonus, if any)

 

after further review, having looked up the FedEX bonus money, I think this slides to Akshay Bhatia.

Edited September 2 by mardukes
FedEX bonuses

[ShimmyCocoBop]

Maybe the PGA Tour should pay Mark Broadie, "The Godfather of Golf Analytics" to develop a year long with year end event.

He's good at figuring out stuff like that.

[jolter1]

Honestly to me, the present Fedex Cup playoff, if that is what you want to call it, is nothing more than a silly end of the season event for a more money grab. A playoff is what it is, win or go home. Yes I know the Tour likes to market the events as such and it feels it will draw the tv crowd in, but really does it? Can you imagine the current three events but reduce each field to simple match play with the winners moving on to the next event. Chance are they will lose big names over time but at least you would have the semblance of a real playoff. This might be far fetched and out of the box thinking but what the heck anything is really better than watching 30 guys teeing off with most having little chance of catching the leader who starts at -10.

[mardukes]

3 hours ago, jolter1 said:

Honestly to me, the present Fedex Cup playoff, if that is what you want to call it, is nothing more than a silly end of the season event for a more money grab. A playoff is what it is, win or go home. Yes I know the Tour likes to market the events as such and it feels it will draw the tv crowd in, but really does it? Can you imagine the current three events but reduce each field to simple match play with the winners moving on to the next event. Chance are they will lose big names over time but at least you would have the semblance of a real playoff. This might be far fetched and out of the box thinking but what the heck anything is really better than watching 30 guys teeing off with most having little chance of catching the leader who starts at -10.

Before I begin my refutation, I have to add this note on the topic of match play.  Elsewhere in this forum I have laid out a solution to the need for a match play event.  Pure genius that will go unnoticed.

Silly!?  This is a game.  It is pure contrivance.  Sillier than kicking an oblong ball through goalposts?  Sillier than bowling at somebody's wicket?  Than slapping around a rubber disk on the ice towards a net?  To having your knight limited to moving to a nearest non-adjacent square of the opposite color?

Have you seen the NFL's new rules for on-side kicking?  Did you see Florida State go undefeated last year and not get in the playoffs?  How NFL teams compete for the same division crown by playing different schedules than the other division members?  I could go on for days.

Do you realize that match play and medal play are two different games?  As much as handicapping is odd at the professional, scratch level of golf, it is part of the game.

Do you see that the PGAT does NOT play a team concept?  The size of the field of competitors doesn't lend itself to elimination notions.

I wouldn't, but there are those out there who would come back with the syrupy response to puerile complaints about professional sports being in it "for the money" with "well, then don't watch."

For me, I didn't tune in to hope to see Scottie lose but to watch him win.  And that's no sillier than the converse.

[Chux13]

It just feels like another tournament to watch for me. I do not really pay attention to the points through the season, but would love to see a match play type of "final" where the top seeds would be the top 4 with a bye and play to the champion from there. I also liked what @Josh Parker mentioned prior with just a heads up final having the overall champ based on the points at the end and not the 1st place finish in the final tourney. 

[Patrick Dawes]

My thought would be still in the three-week Format.

The top 70 make week 1 the same as now regular treatment

Top 50 Play another regular tournament to decide the final standing 30 plus ties

Basically first two weeks were unchanged

Final Week 5 Day event 

Final Week Combo Match and Stroke Play

Day one stroke play Golfers start with bonus strokes like now 

Day two stroke play continued to identify the top 16

Day three top 16 play down to 8 First 9 hole Match then the Top 4 With another nine-hole match 

Day 4 Top 4 Play down to 2 as final groups of the day - Losers from day 3 finish with a stroke play 18 to decide remaining finishing spots.

Day 5 Winners from Day 4 play for 1st and second Losers play for 3rd and 4th 

I know this is way too complicated but I think it gives that 5th day of just the top 2 guys going head-to-head to create some drama

 

 

 

[Shapotomous]

I would try it like the US Amateur combining stroke play with match play.  Take the top 120 Fed Ex points earners from the season.  Everyone starts level.  Have the first three playoff weeks be the stroke play part with individual tournament winners being crowned but the playoff standings would be a combined total of strokes from the three tourneys.  After the 3rd week, final total stroke play ties are broken by season long Fed Ex cup points totals determining the higher seed. 

I haven't worked out the number of participants exactly but only take the top XX players from the standings after three weeks of stroke play.  Keep enough to fill four or five days of match play at the last tournament location.  The top seed will play the last place seed, etc.  After each round the matches are reset to account for upsets so that highest seed still plays lowest seed, etc.  If you want the last championship match to be 36 holes on Sunday go for it, but an 18 hole match would be fine with me.  Also if you want a match to decide 3rd & 4th place finishers for less dead air TV time between seeing shots that's OK.  But really, who from a TV audience cares who finished 3rd or 4th.

Edited September 4 by Shapotomous

[Jrpeternell]

I kind of like the format for the end of the year tournament. It forces the players throughout the year to participate in more events to get FedEx Cup points. Which means there are more "stars" on the tournaments. As we've seen in years past, having the top spot doesn't guarantee you are going to win the whole thing. Scotty has been number one for 3 years now and has only one it once. You still need to play well at East Lake all 4 days. 

I think the courses need to change though. Mix it up and like any other tournament. Or pick a course that is going to test all levels of skill. We saw all year that if you would of played the final round on a links course, no way scotty would of won. He can't putt on those types of greens (nor can any of us, haha). 

But that's what I would like to see out of a top 20 tournament. Tough conditions that make every stroke mean something. 

I will say it though - I am ready to start seeing LIV get some World Golf Rankings now. Time to really mix things up.   

[Stuka44]

3 separate courses.   Top 120.  Don't have all the specifics!!! First 60 matches are single elimination...1 plays 120, etc..   Second location 60 (30) matches. Double elimination match play until you have 30 left (15 with no losses, and 15 with one loss and one win, and 30 2x losers eliminated.  Last location 30 players, and you can do your 4 rounds of stroke play(yawn) to see who wins.