'Do We Really Need Playoffs In Golf?' - Matt Fitzpatrick Questions 'Really Weird' FedExCup Format

Matt Fitzpatrick isn't the biggest fan of the "really weird" FedExCup Playoffs, and he wonders whether the PGA Tour, and golf in general, needs the big season finale at all.

Fitzpatrick understands that playoffs are huge in American sports, with the NFL culminating in the Super Bowl and the NBA, MLB and NHL all having similar playoffs meaning teams that finish with the best record don't always walk away with the trophy.

Things in Europe and the UK can be different, with the Premier League title and similar soccer leagues around the continent being decided by who finishes top of the table at the end of the season.

And Englishman Fitzpatrick feels that's a better way to decide the top player on the PGA Tour - with a focus much more on the overall season-long performance than getting hot over three weeks of playoffs.

"I understand the playoffs in the US are a very big thing in other sports, and it's obviously hard to do that with golf because of the format of golf," said Fitzpatrick ahead of the BMW Championship.

"I think the player who has played the best all year from January to next week deserves to be the FedExCup champion, the guy who has made the most points, which is going to be Scottie Scheffler pretty much. And that's how it should be."

The FedExCup has taken various forms during its short history, with even a weighted Tour Championship starting leaderboard aimed at giving the points leaders an advantage at East Lake.

Points weightings for the three playoff events have been reduced recently and prize money distribution has been changed from times when the winner at the Tour Championship got the lot.

Scottie Scheffler received $10m for finishing the regular season top of the standings and will get another $23m for topping the FedEx points list after the BMW Championship.

FedExCup Playoffs 'really weird' says Fitzpatrick

Rewarding season-long excellence and reducing the volitility of finishes in the playoffs is the right way forward, according to Fitzpatrick, which also seems to be the emphasis for the new PGA Tour changes coming up under Brian Rolapp's charge.

"I feel like if you look in the past with the playoffs I think it was sensible to reduce the points now for these two events because, no offense to people, but you could have like one good week and jump a ton of spaces, and that's not really deserving of someone who's played so well over the season," added Fitzpatrick.

"I think obviously it looks like we're heading more that way to rewarding people who played the best over the long season. So I much prefer it that it's going down that road."

Even the current format puzzles Fitzpatrick somewhat, with those already locking up top 50 or top 30 spots able to relax at or even skip the first playoff event at the FedEx St Jude Championship - as Rory McIlroy did last year.

"I do feel like it is a bit weird," Fitzpatrick explained. "As Rory's already pointed out, it's kind of like, you just need to be top 50, you can kind of get yourself settled before even last week and you wouldn't even have to turn up until next week for some players."

Fitzpatrick doesn't have an answer for an alternative format, but wonders whether a playoff system is even needed on the PGA Tour.

"So it is really weird, but I don't have the answer to what that is," he said. "Other than, from someone who is English, do we really need playoffs in golf? Like, it's just not really a thing in the UK."

Scheffler has Player of the Year sewn up

Fitzpatrick puts more weight on the PGA Tour Player of the Year award, which he says is more of a barometer of how someone has played over the full course of the season.

With Scheffler adding a second win of the season last week though to another superb statistical campaign filled with top finishes and dominant strokes gained numbers, that's also a one-horse race.

"I think a certain someone's sewn it up last week, if I'm honest," Fitzpatrick said of Scheffler winning Player of the Year.

"I think it will be obviously a great opportunity to play well this week and next week to try and put my name back in the hat, but yeah, definitely a lot of weight on that for sure.

"But my guess would be most guys will say Scottie. He's leading the FedExCup by a lot of points, I've just made a point that the guy who's played the best the whole season deserves to be the best player. And right now that is him.

"So I can't contradict myself, but that is the truth. I will say that I do believe, I know Paul McGinley made a point the other week, but it's very, it's like the PGA Tour Player of the Year, it's not necessarily the world Player of the Year.

"I know Rory's kind of probably missed out on that a couple times. So obviously there is a little bit of that in there as well. But like I say, the guy who is leading the FedExCup right now is deserving of that as those things stand I would say."