9-18-2009
The Fed Ex Cup...The only thing that makes sense…
First off, let me be clear…I like the Fed Ex Cup and the PGA Playoffs. I remember in prior years when the PGA
Tour came to its conclusion there was only mild interest in golf through the Tour Championship, but even that felt
forced. But now there is some genuine interest and sources of discussion surrounding golf. Our current system
keeps golf in the limelight and that is good for the game.
Now, the current system is FAR from perfect. In fact, it is so fouled up that it is ridiculous to even call it a playoff.
In all playoff systems, that I am aware of, the regular season’s only bearing on them is for seeding purposes.
Nothing else! This Fed Ex Cup Playoff relies on the regular season all the way through to the end. That is not a
Playoff. The only thing that makes sense, assuming the powers that be want to keep it in playoff format, is to
actually make is a post-season playoff…like pro football, NCAA basketball, baseball, hockey, etc, etc, etc.
Here’s my idea and, frankly, the only thing that makes sense…
For starters, keep it exactly the way it is now up until the Tour Championship at East Lake. You accumulate points
as you win throughout the year and those who end up with enough points make the playoff, which will be held at
East Lake.
Now, instead of re-jiggering the points and doing mathematical shenanigans, you simply use those points to set up
seeds for the ultimate playoff…a match play final. Oh yeah, mano-a-mano for the title. Lose and you’re out, win
and you move on. Now that, my friends, is a playoff.
To set this real playoff up, you take the top 2 seeds and give them a first round bye. This will reward the top
players for having great regular seasons, but it won’t give them too much advantage and, therefore, it remains
true to traditional playoff protocol.
The remaining seeds (3-30) face off in match play, #3 plays #30, #4 plays #29, so on and so forth. Assuming we
had this format today, the following list would be the first day pairings…
Jim Furyk vs. John Senden
Zach Johnson vs. Jerry Kelly
Heath Slocum vs. Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington vs. Mike Weir
Sean O’Hair vs. Stewart Cink
Scott Verplank vs. Steve Marino
Kenny Perry vs. Angel Cabrera
Jason Dufner vs. Hunter Mahan
Dustin Johnson vs. Ernie Els
Nick Watney vs. YE Yang
Geoff Ogilvy vs. Lucas Glover
Phil Mickelson vs. David Toms
Retief Goosen vs. Kevin Na
Marc Leishman vs. Brian Gay
Imagine if this was the case. It’s day one of the Finals and you’ve got head to head match ups the likes of…
Kenny Perry vs. Angel Cabrera; a replay of The Masters.
Geoff Ogilvy vs. Lucas Glover; arguably the best match player vs. The US Open champ.
Mickelson vs. Toms; Mr. Go for broke vs. slow and steady.
I’m telling you, it would be awesome!
Now, you simply take a page out of the NCAA Tournament for the next round. The highest seeds are bracketed to
play the lowest seeds, with the #1 and #2 players (who had a day one bye) playing the winner of the #15 vs. #18
and the #16 vs. #17 winners.
The following is a strictly hypothetical round 2 scenario of match-ups, since we can’t know who would actually win
in round #1. Nevertheless, some of the potential match-ups are compelling.
Those potential match-ups are as follows…
Tiger Woods vs. Brian Gay
Steve Stricker vs. Retief Goosen
Jim Furyk vs. Phil Mickelson
Zach Johnson vs. Geoff Ogilvy
Heath Slocum vs. Nick Watney
Padraig Harrington vs. Ernie Els
Sean O’Hair vs. Hunter Mahan
Scott Verplank vs. Kenny Perry
Once again the match-ups are compelling. Tiger Woods versus Brian Gay at East Lake might seem like a mis-
match, but the demands that East Lake puts on your short-game makes it very intriguing. O’Hair vs.
Mahan…battle of the young guns. Furyk vs. Mickelson…oh yeah!
As we head into Saturday, we simply follow the NCAA Tournament playbook to derive the following potential match-
ups…
Tiger Woods vs. Kenny Perry
Steve Stricker vs. Hunter Mahan
Jim Furyk vs. Padraig Harrington
Geoff Ogilvy vs. Nick Watney
Then we go 36 holes on Sunday for the title. Here is what is could look like…
Tiger Woods vs. Geoff Ogilvy
Hunter Mahan vs. Padraig Harrington
Then for the potential championship match up head to head…
Tiger Woods vs. Padraig Harrington
Oh man…this would be flat out exciting! And it would be a true playoff.
Frankly, if the Tour is not going to go this route…they need to change the name from the Playoff to something
else. In my mind, this is the only thing that makes sense!
The Fed Ex Cup...The only thing that makes sense…
First off, let me be clear…I like the Fed Ex Cup and the PGA Playoffs. I remember in prior years when the PGA
Tour came to its conclusion there was only mild interest in golf through the Tour Championship, but even that felt
forced. But now there is some genuine interest and sources of discussion surrounding golf. Our current system
keeps golf in the limelight and that is good for the game.
Now, the current system is FAR from perfect. In fact, it is so fouled up that it is ridiculous to even call it a playoff.
In all playoff systems, that I am aware of, the regular season’s only bearing on them is for seeding purposes.
Nothing else! This Fed Ex Cup Playoff relies on the regular season all the way through to the end. That is not a
Playoff. The only thing that makes sense, assuming the powers that be want to keep it in playoff format, is to
actually make is a post-season playoff…like pro football, NCAA basketball, baseball, hockey, etc, etc, etc.
Here’s my idea and, frankly, the only thing that makes sense…
For starters, keep it exactly the way it is now up until the Tour Championship at East Lake. You accumulate points
as you win throughout the year and those who end up with enough points make the playoff, which will be held at
East Lake.
Now, instead of re-jiggering the points and doing mathematical shenanigans, you simply use those points to set up
seeds for the ultimate playoff…a match play final. Oh yeah, mano-a-mano for the title. Lose and you’re out, win
and you move on. Now that, my friends, is a playoff.
To set this real playoff up, you take the top 2 seeds and give them a first round bye. This will reward the top
players for having great regular seasons, but it won’t give them too much advantage and, therefore, it remains
true to traditional playoff protocol.
The remaining seeds (3-30) face off in match play, #3 plays #30, #4 plays #29, so on and so forth. Assuming we
had this format today, the following list would be the first day pairings…
Jim Furyk vs. John Senden
Zach Johnson vs. Jerry Kelly
Heath Slocum vs. Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington vs. Mike Weir
Sean O’Hair vs. Stewart Cink
Scott Verplank vs. Steve Marino
Kenny Perry vs. Angel Cabrera
Jason Dufner vs. Hunter Mahan
Dustin Johnson vs. Ernie Els
Nick Watney vs. YE Yang
Geoff Ogilvy vs. Lucas Glover
Phil Mickelson vs. David Toms
Retief Goosen vs. Kevin Na
Marc Leishman vs. Brian Gay
Imagine if this was the case. It’s day one of the Finals and you’ve got head to head match ups the likes of…
Kenny Perry vs. Angel Cabrera; a replay of The Masters.
Geoff Ogilvy vs. Lucas Glover; arguably the best match player vs. The US Open champ.
Mickelson vs. Toms; Mr. Go for broke vs. slow and steady.
I’m telling you, it would be awesome!
Now, you simply take a page out of the NCAA Tournament for the next round. The highest seeds are bracketed to
play the lowest seeds, with the #1 and #2 players (who had a day one bye) playing the winner of the #15 vs. #18
and the #16 vs. #17 winners.
The following is a strictly hypothetical round 2 scenario of match-ups, since we can’t know who would actually win
in round #1. Nevertheless, some of the potential match-ups are compelling.
Those potential match-ups are as follows…
Tiger Woods vs. Brian Gay
Steve Stricker vs. Retief Goosen
Jim Furyk vs. Phil Mickelson
Zach Johnson vs. Geoff Ogilvy
Heath Slocum vs. Nick Watney
Padraig Harrington vs. Ernie Els
Sean O’Hair vs. Hunter Mahan
Scott Verplank vs. Kenny Perry
Once again the match-ups are compelling. Tiger Woods versus Brian Gay at East Lake might seem like a mis-
match, but the demands that East Lake puts on your short-game makes it very intriguing. O’Hair vs.
Mahan…battle of the young guns. Furyk vs. Mickelson…oh yeah!
As we head into Saturday, we simply follow the NCAA Tournament playbook to derive the following potential match-
ups…
Tiger Woods vs. Kenny Perry
Steve Stricker vs. Hunter Mahan
Jim Furyk vs. Padraig Harrington
Geoff Ogilvy vs. Nick Watney
Then we go 36 holes on Sunday for the title. Here is what is could look like…
Tiger Woods vs. Geoff Ogilvy
Hunter Mahan vs. Padraig Harrington
Then for the potential championship match up head to head…
Tiger Woods vs. Padraig Harrington
Oh man…this would be flat out exciting! And it would be a true playoff.
Frankly, if the Tour is not going to go this route…they need to change the name from the Playoff to something
else. In my mind, this is the only thing that makes sense!
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