Time for Tour to add more sizzle to FedEx Cup finale

ATLANTA — Dustin Johnson had a chance to win $10 million while sitting in front of a television.

For all the drama the final day of the FedEx Cup can provide, it must have been just as entertaining inside the clubhouse at East Lake last year. Johnson was the No. 1 seed and had squandered his chances to win the Tour Championship with a 73 in the final round.

He still could capture the FedEx Cup provided Rory McIlroy didn’t win. Just his luck, McIlroy holed a shot from the 16th fairway for eagle and got into a playoff when Kevin Chappell and Ryan Moore both missed birdie putts on the last hole.

And all Johnson could do was watch.

“No offense to Rory, but I was rooting for Chappy very hard,” Johnson said. “If he would have won, I would have won the FedEx Cup.”

Chappell was eliminated on the first extra hole, and McIlroy wound up beating Moore on the third playoff hole.

Imagine being in the clubhouse with Johnson.

“Extremely uncomfortable,” said Justin Thomas, who happened to be sitting there with Johnson and his family, including 18-month-old son Tatum. “I’m in there with some tour guys and we’re dead quiet. We can’t really react or do anything. We can’t say normal stuff we would say. We needed to be pro-Ryan Moore. And Tatum was on the ground playing on an iPad while this playoff was going on. It was great.”

It could happen again this year.

Jordan Spieth, the No. 1 seed this year, wouldn’t be surprised if it did, and he wouldn’t want to be in Johnson’s place. The winner gets a $10 million bonus. The guy who finishes second in the FedEx Cup gets $3 million. This is one definition of a firstworld problem.

“He’s sitting there not able to control a $7 million difference. That doesn’t happen anywhere else,” Spieth said. “It’s like having a $7 million bet on a fight that you’re not even taking part in.”

Such a scenario might not be a possibility much longer.

Along with revamping the schedule to end the FedEx Cup around Labor Day, the tour is contemplating an overhaul to the FedEx Cup finale. One idea floating around is for the Tour Championship and the final day of the FedEx Cup to be separated.

The Tour Championship, the last of the playoff events, could end on a Saturday. That would leave Sunday for the top players to compete over 18 holes — or perhaps even 36 holes for a truer test — to determine who gets the $10 million as FedEx Cup champion.

“We’ve considered virtually every single circumstance that’s available to us, and that is one possibility,” Commissioner Jay Monahan said.

Change seems inevitable. It’s now a matter of the model.

“They’re talking about it,” Johnson said. “I don’t care. It’ll be fun. As long as I’ve got a chance, I’m fine.”