Change The FedEx Cup Playoffs

JB

Follow @THPGolf on Social Media
Albatross 2024 Club
Staff member
Joined
Oct 8, 2008
Messages
281,784
Reaction score
423,239
Location
THP Experiences
You are hired to make the FedEx Cup playoffs matter more to the fans. It is your sole task to create a season long race and playoffs that both work and keep people interested.

What would you do and why?
 
People love brackets. Do match play for the top 125 or so, and spread it out over the 3/4 events. Top couple spots get byes through the first few rounds or something.

Stroke play with giving people strokes or having the weird point system is hard for people to understand or get behind. It needs to be something different from the rest of the year.
 
For me right now it's not about the lack of interest in the playoffs, its a lack of interest in the tour. I blame the schedule and having the majors wrapped up by mid-July. I thought the playoff scheduling worked better when there was the WGC, PGA, Wyndham, and then get right into it. Gave me a reason not to really check out mentally.

My curiosity will hit me come East Lake with that new scoring format.
 
cbaker2882;n8876675 said:
People love brackets. Do match play for the top 125 or so, and spread it out over the 3/4 events. Top couple spots get byes through the first few rounds or something.

Stroke play with giving people strokes or having the weird point system is hard for people to understand or get behind. It needs to be something different from the rest of the year.
Nailed it. Close the thread down!
 
There is no way they are doing match play when no one would watch a Webb Simpson v Tony Finau match if it came down to that. Match is so random it would often come down to that or something similar to it. No matter what at East Lake they get 30 dudes and nearly all the best players in the world.

I have a solution, just dont do it. The Majors are all that matter to anyone but the biggest golf fans and we would all watch the Tour Championship anyway.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Admin
  • #6
DataDude;n8876699 said:
There is no way they are doing match play when no one would watch a Webb Simpson v Tony Finau match if it came down to that. Match is so random it would often come down to that or something similar to it. No matter what at East Lake they get 30 dudes and nearly all the best players in the world.

I have a solution, just dont do it. The Majors are all that matter to anyone but the biggest golf fans and we would all watch the Tour Championship anyway.

I think you nailed it here. There has to be a general interest and risking getting two randoms is a tough one.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Admin
  • #7
ddec;n8876686 said:
For me right now it's not about the lack of interest in the playoffs, its a lack of interest in the tour. I blame the schedule and having the majors wrapped up by mid-July. I thought the playoff scheduling worked better when there was the WGC, PGA, Wyndham, and then get right into it. Gave me a reason not to really check out mentally.

My curiosity will hit me come East Lake with that new scoring format.

Do you think it is the schedule or more the year? Post Masters was tough this year with Tiger missing cuts and not playing. Did you have interest in the Open? Or was it already gone at that point? Because next year with the Olympics it gets even more challenging.
 
There is too much money in it for everyone to let that happen. $10M + all the tv spots, merchandise, etc it just wouldn't happen.
 
Is there any reasoning behind not having a major as the last event of the year? The way I see it - the Fed Ex is never going to be that important - it's just an overall add-on to an entire seasons worth of work. The equivalent of winning an MVP in a way. I'm not sure this is possible - short of adding another major - but it would maybe send the year out with a bang instead of a whimper.

Most major sports end the year with a championship, it would just seem that ending the season with a Major would handle that.
 
Nappy;n8876707 said:
Is there any reasoning behind not having a major as the last event of the year? The way I see it - the Fed Ex is never going to be that important - it's just an overall add-on to an entire seasons worth of work. The equivalent of winning an MVP in a way. I'm not sure this is possible - short of adding another major - but it would maybe send the year out with a bang instead of a whimper.

Most major sports end the year with a championship, it would just seem that ending the season with a Major would handle that.

I actually like this idea, but how do you do the race to make it matter?
 
First, I would change the name. You ask a casual fan or someone like my wife that doesn't follow professional golf what the FedEx Cup is and they have no idea. You ask a casual football fan what the Super Bowl is or a non-baseball fan what the World Series is, they know. Second, the golf majors need to be worth more points. Third, it is way too hard for casual people to understand the points system or care about the "playoffs." It is too much like NASCAR and no one but the true fans know anything about the "chase for the cup" or how people get in and what-not. I don't care if they start with 125 golfers and then cut it in half, but at some point they need to make some kind of bracket that is easy to understand. I have no idea who the good women's basketball teams are and will not follow it all year, but come tournament time, it is easy to see it is a big deal when #11 Missouri State knocks off #3 Iowa State in the tournament. Finally, if they want to get casual people to care, make the final 32 or 16 players match play. People care more when playoffs are team vs team or mano a mano. It won't happen, but it would be more entertaining for the masses.

I love golf and kind of follow the PGA Tour. I still don't care at all about the Fed Ex Cup and it is hard to even explain to someone how someone wins and the standings.
 
JB;n8876661 said:
You are hired to make the FedEx Cup playoffs matter more to the fans. It is your sole task to create a season long race and playoffs that both work and keep people interested.

What would you do and why?

Golf tradition is that the four Majors matter most, both to the players as well as fans.
As the PGA Tour does not own any of the four Majors, to compensate in recent years it has tried to create money grabs such as the President's Cup and Playoffs. Moving the PGA from August to May was the PGA Tour's latest attempt at creating Playoff interest, and all this move has done is disrespect the PGA Championship.
At this time I would like to see the PGA return to its rightful August event time, and discontinue the FedEx Playoffs as it was never a good sense idea.
 
Last edited:
JB;n8876703 said:
Do you think it is the schedule or more the year? Post Masters was tough this year with Tiger missing cuts and not playing. Did you have interest in the Open? Or was it already gone at that point? Because next year with the Olympics it gets even more challenging.

I had interest in The Open but had zero interest in the WGC event the following week. The run up to the Masters was fun, although I think it always is. The PGA seemed rushed, and then all of a sudden the season felt like it was major championship or bust. TIger winning and then being out or playing crappy definitely hurts, no doubt about it. But man, I'm usually a guy who enjoys watching the coverage thursday/friday when I'm at work, and then catching as much as possible on the weekend. But this year has really failed to capture my attention outside of the majors and Jacks tournament post Masters.
 
Single elimination match play. That would shake it up and really put importance on every round. There would always be a Cinderella story and a King who was slain.
 
Have the top 3 or 4 after the "championship" play a 36 hole skins game over the next two nights for the money, everyone miked up, shot clock in play.
 
I honestly have no idea. I will say with the majors being wrapped up my interest level goes way down. Golf in general this year has been a let down outside of Tiger winning the Masters and I can't really pinpoint why. I usually watch at work on Thur/Fri then catch the finish on Sun but this year I don't think I used my PGA live subscription more than a handful of times.
 
My pick is to make the Tour Championship a major. Make finishing in the top 10 or 20 in any of the other majors a prerequisite for qualification. The points system sucks.
 
I like seeing the comments here for match play. I thought I was the only one who liked that format.

DG_1234, I don't see the disrespect to the PGA. If anything, I was more excited for it this year.
 
Instead of having the Tournament of Champions in January, which is now in the middle of the wrap-around season and is really meaningless, have it at the end of the season (end of August) in place of the FedEx Cup. Some of the winners don't even go to Hawaii for the tournament as it stands now. Have the tournament winners for the year play for the same $10M as an additional benefit of having won on tour and truly have a Champion of the Champions!
 
Go straight to the Tour Championship. The season has been completed, players have earned there positions over the 40+ week season. Expand the field and have the top 50 compete for one last big payoff.
 
I'd hire SlightDraw to come up with something crazy and creative. :D
 
shanewu;n8877048 said:
I'd hire SlightDraw to come up with something crazy and creative. :D

I like the March Madness type bracket thing I saw earlier in the thread. 128 Golfers, single elimination.
 
OGputtnfool;n8876807 said:
DG_1234, I don't see the disrespect to the PGA. If anything, I was more excited for it this year.

For decades the PGA enjoyed the distinction of being "the year's final Major". Also, the break between the Masters and US Open gave players welcome time to prepare for the US Open . Finally, the August PGA essentially extended the season for players as well as spectators.
The Tour forcing the PGA of America to move its Major (the PGA Championship) from August to May, has resulted in much being lost, but nothing gained.
As much as the PGA Tour would like it's money grab ideas (President's Cup and FedEX Playoffs) to gain traction among players and spectators, it's not going to happen. Four Majors is enough to get the attention each year of players and fans; trying for more than that rings hollow.
 
JB;n8876703 said:
Do you think it is the schedule or more the year? Post Masters was tough this year with Tiger missing cuts and not playing. Did you have interest in the Open? Or was it already gone at that point? Because next year with the Olympics it gets even more challenging.

ddec and I talked a bit about this weekend, as I feel the same way.

I think some of the "big" tournaments that weren't the majors just didn't have the same feeling they did as in previous years. The WGC after the Open might as well have been the Safeway to me this year. I'm not sure how I feel about the new spot for the Players either. That didn't seem to garner the same interest from me it usually does.

It'll be interesting to see how I feel next year. Like you said, maybe it's the year more than the schedule. But I think it's at least playing a part.
 
DG_1234;n8877066 said:
For decades the PGA enjoyed the distinction of being "the year's final Major". Also, the break between the Masters and US Open gave players welcome time to prepare for the US Open . Finally, the August PGA essentially extended the season for players as well as spectators.
The Tour forcing the PGA of America to move its Major (the PGA Championship) from August to May, has resulted in much being lost, but nothing gained.
As much as the PGA Tour would like it's money grab ideas (President's Cup and FedEX Playoffs) to gain traction among players and spectators, it's not going to happen. Four Majors is enough to get the attention each year of players and fans; trying for more than that rings hollow.

I hear ya, but I can't be the only person in the world that was more into the PGA this year than years past. Before, it was like... oh, yeah, we still have the PGA to play. This year, it was, ok, The Masters is done, bring on the PGA!
 
Back
Top