PGA Tour to overhaul Fedex Cup Playoffs

Finally… the points system will be made a LOT simpler next year

For all the build-up and big-name players, the Fedex Cup Playoffs never quite manage to excite. The complicated format doesn’t help, and means that attention is often split between two trophies. Only last year Xander Schauffele’s victory in the season-ending Tour Championship was overshadowed by Justin Thomas winning the $10m Fedex Cup.

Nick Dougherty is one of a number of critics who’ve called for a change, and he could be about to get his wish. In a bid to do away with those confusing (and distracting) points projection graphics, the PGA Tour is close to finalising a revamp that would see a cash prize awarded to the top-three players from the regular season, followed by a new scoring format for the Tour Championship to decide the Fedex champion.

Under the current format, only the top five can automatically win the Fedex Cup if they win the Tour Championship. The proposed changes will remove any ifs and buts by scrapping the points system altogether for the final event at East Lake.

Instead, the Fedex Cup leader will begin the Tour Championship at 10-under-par, with the rest of the 30-man field allocated a score to par based on their position in the standings. This is likely to be done incrementally, with a stroke differential of 10 shots between the No.1 player and the final qualifier.

Among other changes being considered include increasing the winner’s bonus to $15 million and ending the regular season a week early at the WGC Fedex Invitational in Memphis, as opposed to the Wyndham Championship which the top players tend to miss anyway.

What is for certain is that from 2019, the number of play-off events will be reduced from four to three, with the Northern Trust rotating between Liberty National and TPC Boston to compensate for the loss of the Dell Technologies Championship. The top 125 will then be whittled down to 70 for the BMW Championship, and 30 for the season finale.

‘IT’S ODD GETTING SOMETHING SO TREMENDOUS, ONE OF MY BEST ACHIEVEMENTS IN MY CAREER, WITHOUT WINNING A GOLF TOURNAMENT.’ JUSTIN THOMAS, 2017 FEDEX CUP CHAMPION