Johnson Claims $15 Million And Now We Don't Have To Hear About The FedExCup Again Until Thursday
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My daily Tour Championship Mindfulness session started after the 15th hole and ended with Dustin Johnson in the 18th fairway. In between I had this strange dream that he announced he was donating a nice chunk to a Tour charity hit hard by the pandemic AND finally marry Paulina. That’s why they’re called dreams.
Anyway, the 2020 playing at East Lake was mildly interesting at times, but without fans and only two dangerous shots to a PGA Tour (as Paul Azinger noted…8th and 15th tees), this 2020 Tour Championship will elicit as many fond memories as the year it was played.
Year two of the staggered scoring system ultimately rewarded the best player in the playoffs, where Dustin Johnson was -45, well clear of next closest competitor Jon Rahm (-29). But due to the staggered start, Johnson had to work much harder than necessary given his playoff dominance. I point this out for those taking seriously the importance and excitement of the season long race and playoffs.
The twist: a legit scoring system would have been even less dramatic Sunday if the old format was in place, with Xander Schauffele winning a Tour Championship and Johnson the FedExCup.
As Brian Wacker reports for GolfDigest.com, this is Johnson’s 23rd PGA Tour win and installs him as the favorite at Winged Foot in just over a week. The FedExCup as a piece to his Hall of Fame puzzle was noted by Sean Martin at PGATour.com.
If you’re looking for change, note that most of the game’s writers and in particular the younger set—hint, hint marketing mavens at Cult PVB—want a match play conclusion to this event.
From the Golf.com weekly roundtable where only the guy outside the coveted demo was not peddling a match play idea.
Golf.com’s gang:
Sens: I know a lot of careful, number-crunching thought went into it, but giving a professional golfer a head start at the beginning of a tournament is too absurd for me to accept. This isn’t a weekend club competition. Get rid of the handicapping.
Melton: I’m not sold on the current format. I know it makes viewing more friendly for the casual fan, but the lack of contenders as a result of the handicapped leaderboard can make it a bit of a snoozer. Incorporating some sort of match-play component to determine the FedEx Cup champ could be a fun twist that still allows for the casual fan to easily comprehend.
Zak: Stroke play for two days, then match play for two? Feels like we all want that. If we need to give the season a bunch of value, allow for FedEx Cup ranking to guarantee a spot in match play.
Colgan: I love the idea of incentivizing strong performance, but I think — as my colleague Josh Berhow pointed out last week — the best way to do that is to shift to match play. This weekend was a great proof of concept for how beneficial it is to start a tournament at 10 under, but it was decidedly not a great proof that doing so manufactures compelling golf. It’s time for match play.
Bamberger: I’ve been down this road before: play all three tournaments, winner is the winner of one 216-hole event. Cut players after each round.
Emergency Zoom PVB style and pronto, because the 2020-21 season starts Thursday in Napa (smoke permitting).
Club Pro Guy’s take on the net championship concept might also be good meeting fodder.
Highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:
