It'd be funny if the top 30 all agreed the head start idea was unfair and putted the ball 1 to 9 extra times on the first hole to even things out.
Surprised no posts about the PGA changes for next year.
FedEx money is going from $35MM to $70MM. Tour Championship is completely changing where the FedEx Cup winner will be the Tour Championship winner. Also, there will be payouts at the end of the regular season for the top 10 guys (1st $2MM to 10th $500k). This SHOULD make the Wyndham a better event moving forward as guys around the top 10 may want to get one more event in and try to make the top 10.
Leader of the FedEx Cup starts the Tour Championship at -10 (I'm not crazy about this one).
I think that's pretty damn cheesy. They're doing it to avoid the awkwardness of having a winner of the Tour Championship and a different winner of the FedEx Cup???? So, are we to believe that the dude that just won the Tour Championship and 3 millions dollars or whatever the purse is, is going to feel awkward sharing the spotlight with the FedEx Cup winner? Stupid Idea
What would be funnier is if everyone but the last group did that. #suckers
Handicapping the field at the Tour Championship is super cheesy but having the winner of the Tour Championship always being the winner of the FedEx just makes sense.
Again, what other sport provides any handicap for the playoffs in the form of substantive on-field (or court) advantage? You get homefield advantage in other sports, but if you're the one seed in the NBA you don't start up 2-0 in the series or begin each game up 15-0.
Just a really dumb idea.
The solution seems simple to me: compete to make top 30 and make the Tour Championship and the winner of the Tour Championship (with everyone starting at E like every other golf tournament in the world) wins the whole thing.
So it causes zero drama all year between people that are a lock to make top 30.
The solution seems simple to me: compete to make top 30 and make the Tour Championship and the winner of the Tour Championship (with everyone starting at E like every other golf tournament in the world) wins the whole thing.
Why do people think the winner of the FedEx Cup and the winner of the Tour championship should be the same? I don't get it at all. I thought the whole theory behind the FedEx was a season-long points competition which then culminated in the playoffs - with, again, points over the course of all the tournaments deciding the winner. So, the FedEx was designed to reward consistent performance over multiple events. I guess you still have that concept in the form of giving the leader a big head start to win the Tour championship... But I had no problem with the FedEx winner finishing 4th, or whatever, in the Tour Championship and still winning the FedEx - he earned it with his excellent play to that point.
Why do people think the winner of the FedEx Cup and the winner of the Tour championship should be the same? I don't get it at all. I thought the whole theory behind the FedEx was a season-long points competition which then culminated in the playoffs - with, again, points over the course of all the tournaments deciding the winner. So, the FedEx was designed to reward consistent performance over multiple events. I guess you still have that concept in the form of giving the leader a big head start to win the Tour championship... But I had no problem with the FedEx winner finishing 4th, or whatever, in the Tour Championship and still winning the FedEx - he earned it with his excellent play to that point.
Yeah that doesn't work - leading playoff tourneys get skipped by all the top seeds which is the opposite of what they want (and something they already fixed due to problem in past years). Spieth isn't a great example - he was winless this year.
The 10 stroke advantage may be cheesy, but it's a million times better than having a statistician be the only one who knows what the hell is going on for a $10M "most important thing you can win" prize. Sure, most major sports don't start with disadvantages, but NASCAR does. Running, cycling, boating, etc. do also. I do find 10 strokes, named a year ahead of time, too arbitrary. If it's rainy and windy 10 strokes could be insurmountable. If it's perfect conditions and the course gives up tons of birdies it could be a handful of putts over 2 days. It'd be interesting to wait until the week of and have them announce the spacing based on conditions.
At the very least it'll be interesting - guys that know they're chasing 10 strokes will be crazy aggressive, leaders might play conservative early. It'll make the early rounds feel more important than the first two rounds of other tourneys where the main goal is just to play well but not miss the cut.
They need to find a different course that rewards agression.
I personally think they should play it as match play with the top 4 getting byes or something like that.