Post your suggestions to improve the Fedex Playoffs

[Troll_Inc]

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Ask the top ten players in the world how it should be done, and then do it that way.

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This is probably the best.

Really though it only is going to be interesting if there is good golf by two or more players at the same time at the top of the leaderboard, and that's impossible to predict, regardless of tournament or format.

[FireStorm]

Simply keep the points format used for the regular season, and keep it in use for the whole season. Apply some of the eliminations part when it comes to the last 4-5 tournaments (Barclays, take the top 140 or whatever from the regular season, after that, top 120 for the next, top 75, etc etc down to the Tour Championship). This way, the season-long best player would be rewarded.

[sean c]

Sh#t can it. If you want to add some cash or an annuity to the player of the year award like the Seniors do go for it. The fedex cup is a joke.

[WLVRYN]

If the PGA tour just wants to reward the season long best player, they wouldnt need a playoff, they could just pay out the $10M to the player of the year.

Think about every other major sport (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) except for NASCAR (since I dont know how the Chase works). Those teams play all season for postseason seeding, but they still need to win in the postseason to win the championship. You could be the best team in the league in the regular season and flame out in the playoffs and go home with nothing, or you could have a team like the Steelers a few years ago that gets hot at the right time and wins it all.

The PGA tour tried to create a hybrid playoff/regular season system that rewarded both regular season play and playoff play, hoping that Tiger would build a big enough lead during the regular season and maybe win one event during the playoffs and walk away with the title. By design, they ended up in the situation where they're at, in which the big names can skip a week and still win it all and people are bitching.

No matter how they structure it, some people will hate it. You can either have a true playoff and risk not having Tiger in it if he has a bad week, or have a sort of playoff and allow the guys to skip but still have a chance to win.

I'd prefer to have a two payout system. One is the POY, who gets $5M based on season long performance. Top guys can opt of the playoffs, but still will be playing for money in the season long championship. You also make the points for the playoff events higher to entice the top guys to play at the end, but maybe allow them to take a week off as well. That way there's a balance for guys not wanting to play every week to still have something to play for.

The other is the winner of the playoffs, where the points generally only count for performance during the playoff period. This will force the top players to play every week in order to try to advance if they want to go for this. Sure this may mean that Steve Stricker or Scott Verplank or somebody not named Tiger wins the playoffs, but that's the chance you take by creating the playoffs in the first place.

[sylar]

for everyone who advocates keeping the regular season points,

this essentially will eliminate the 'playoffs' and the fedex cup will almost automatically go to player of the year. the whole point of the last four tournaments is to provide some drama down the stretch. the only recent time this happened was when tiger was chasing vijay for PotY in the last couple of weeks.

the point system could almost certainly be improved. schedule of play could be improved. participation by the leaders could be improved. JFC, everything could be improved. let's give this system more than 2 weeks to judge it though. the next two tourney's could work out to be VERY EXCITING.

the biggest problem right now (it seems) is that not enough players give a sh*t about the trophy, though they certainly care about the money. btw, i think tiger, phil, and steve actually DO CARE more than others. this would be helped a lot if more players looked like they wanted those 2nd-5th place points (Vijay, Ernie, etc.).

[tuq]

WLVRYN's post was very good IMO.

The more I read all these suggestions/fixes, the more I think they actually did put together a pretty good setup (if they must do this). Tiger/Phil/Vijay rightfully get a head start for being the best players all year, but it's not something that can't be overcome.

I do think it's kind of a shame that the guys down at the bottom have virtually no chance of making waves unless they run the table. I don't have a better solution though and besides, there are purses in these tournaments just like any other so it's not like they can't make some money on their way out the door.

[41eater]

I don't follow the PGA Tour that much, but I kind of like what I've seen so far. This (late August/early September) has historically been a dead spot on the Tour's schedule. I think the Tour is doing the right thing to try to find something to liven up these three-four weeks.

I like the fact that they've paired up the players in order, which gave us the Tiger/Phil/Vijay pairing last week. That's great stuff that gave what would otherwise be a 2nd rate tour event a great buzz for Thursday and Friday. The Tour was getting front-page, major-esque coverage, and it was all because of the FedEx Cup.

I don't think it's a big deal that not "enough" guys are "moving up" to make the cut into the next week's tournaments. It should be hard for a guy who's #140 to make it to week 2; it should be hard for a guy who's #100 to make it to week 3; it should be hard for a guy who's #65 to make it to week 4. There should need to be a top 3 finish or a succession of top 10s to pull that off. One decent week shouldn't overcome an average or mediocre season.

As far as top players skipping events, so what? If Phil wants to stay home this week to be there for the first day of school and soccer practice, well, then, he takes a risk that someone (probably Tiger) will put him in a hole for the Tour Championship.

[tuq]

41eater,

One minor nit: this wouldn't be a 2nd rate event if not for the playoffs. Tiger plays in it every year and that alone makes it legit. It's also one of the events that wasn't moved on the calendar for the playoff purposes: it's always fallen on Labor Day.

The rest were all very good points, with minor disagreement on the chance of bottom guys advancing.

While I understand these guys are independent contractors and I respect the right for them to pick and choose what they play in, I still would like to see the PGA introduce the same mandate that the LPGA does, where the players have to visit every tour stop at least once every few years. I don't see how this is a detriment to the players other than (slightly) smaller purses for them to win.

Just imagine the buzz if Tiger were to play the John Deere classic or some other tour stop that he blows off year after year, and would it really be that much of a hardship on him?

[DDH]

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Make it a real playoff, first week only best 120 qualify for next week etc. You carry your score with you for the following weeks. But if you are not playing you are out.


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I like that, but also, what I would do, would be to add a break. You can't start earlier, without affecting the PGA Championship, and you can't start the week after that, because players will want a break after the Major. So start the same week, but then take a week off in the middle. Play the first two, take a week off (Which would also get you past opening weekend for the NFL) then play the final two.

[tuq]

I wonder how much the NFL season affects ratings. That is, how much lower are ratings in the middle of September for the same event as they are in the middle of August?

The NFL is apparently by far the most popular sport in the US. Kind of a bummer that contributes to absolutely wrecking the PGA's ratings in the fall. Go to any sports bar on a Sunday and you have to beg to get them to put up the golf tournament on a small TV in the corner.

As an aside, the Phoenix Open almost always coincides with the Super Bowl (the one year it didn't that I recall was 2002, the game was moved because of the 09/11 delays). When the Big Game was here in 1996 the Open actually moved up a day and finished on Saturday, so people with tickets to both could enjoy both events, and for practical and logistical purposes. Sunday attendance for the Open typically sucks ass anyway - it lags well behind both Friday and Saturday - even though you can totally watch the entire tournament and get to a party by kickoff. Anyway, I heard that when it comes around to Phoenix again (maybe this year? Soon) they're not going to do Wed-Sat again, they're going to end it on Sunday, which I think is lame.