This FedExCup Finale Actually Should Be Exciting...
/...but it could be epic with a tweak. More on that in a moment.
This will be the most exciting FedExCup finale yet. That's not saying much, I know. But of the players with a shot at the $10 million bonus, the money will actually matter to each of them. Not that Tiger and Phil and Vijay couldn't use $10 million, but for the Charley Hoffman's and Matt Kuchar's of the world, a FedExCup win would be life changing. And therefore we're in for some exciting play and plenty of "choke" references from Johnny, despite the goofy scoring system.
As for the potential scenarios, Bob Harig (here) and Steve Elling (here) lay them out, while Gary Van Sickle makes a noble case (again) for his system of cumulative strokes as the easiest solution to follow. I contend there's an easier way.
Three years ago I wrote a story for Golf World to make a case that the Cup was flawed and would never generate interest unless the finale were exciting, easy to follow, and not rigged to somehow protect season points leaders. Each year the tour tweaks have made matters worse and now we are left with two resets, too much volatility and still no easy-to-understand finish.
In my Golf World piece, I advocated that the tour adopt the then exciting (and now defunct) ADT Championship from the LPGA Tour. But I now realize that was a mistake for the simple reason that the PGA Tour would never want to be seen borrowing ideas from the LPGA Tour. And I now see the merits in rewarding the regular season (not that it makes guys tee it up more often), yet I still think there has to be a playoff element of some kind for the event to have legitimacy and an audience outside of hardcore golfers. Therefore...
- Maintain the "playoffs" as they exist with the three lead-up events to East Lake and eliminations each week, however...
- Return to the prior, less volatile points system that protects the regular season points leaders, which also solves the silliness of top 30 FedEx Cuppers getting into majors on the merits of two or three good weeks.
- At East Lake, end the season points race on Saturday. This will create an exciting Saturday finish to the season and set up the Sunday finale.
- The top six points earners from the regular season advance to Sunday. Points are out, everyone starts from scratch. It's one day of golf with the $10 million first place prize on the line. Let's play 36 holes, three twosomes and re-pair by score after the morning round. It's one day, $10 million on the line. A good, old-fashioned shootout. Even better, it's easy for fans and easy for players to understand. And probably very exciting to watch.