Scottie Scheffler Calls Out 'Silly' FedEx Cup Playoffs Format
The World No.1 feels there are flaws in the FedEx Cup Playoffs format, particularly as the battle for points takes place throughout the season
![Scottie Scheffler talks to the media prior to the FedEx St. Jude Championship](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HBkCRstmVmdWcU9Yj3fdzC-415-80.jpg)
Scottie Scheffler heads into the first of three FedEx Cup Playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, with a huge lead in the standings, boasting a near 2,000-point lead over closest rival Xander Schauffele, helped by wins in six of the tournaments offering the points this season.
Signature events, which offer 700 points for a win, are where Scheffler has benefited the most in 2024, but the Playoffs hand 2,000 points to the winner, while the leader on the standings heading into the final event, the Tour Championship, will begin with just a two-shot lead over his nearest rival.
That has made for a more open contest at East Lake in recent years, with even the lowest-ranked of the 30 in the Tour Championship field starting only 10 shots behind the leader. However, Scheffler is not a fan of the format, particularly as it is the culmination of a season-long battle for points.
Speaking to the media before this week’s event at TPC Southwind, he aired his frustrations over how, even with his enormous points lead heading into the tournament, it could be overturned with a moment of bad luck such as a flare-up of the neck injury that bothered him on his way to winning The Players Championship.
He said: “Yeah, I mean, I talked about it the last few years. I think it's silly. You can't call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament.
“Hypothetically, we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn't heal the way it did at The Players, I finish 30th in the FedEx Cup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament? Is that really the season-long race? No.”
Scottie Scheffler sustained a neck injury at The Players Championship
One reason for the format is to ensure the winner is not all-but-guaranteed by the start of the final Playoff event, and that’s something the man third in the standings, Rory McIlroy, argued earlier in the day is a crucial thing to consider.
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He said: “I think it makes the Tour Championship more exciting from a consumer standpoint. Is it the fairest reflection of who's been the best player of the year? Probably not. But I think at this point, we're not in for totally fair, we're in for entertainment and for trying to put on the best product we possibly can."
Rory McIlroy says supports the FedEx Cup Playoffs format
Scheffler also conceded there is a need to ensure it is an enjoyable spectacle for TV audiences. “It is what it is,” he said. “It's a fun tournament. I don't really consider it the season-long race like I think the way it's called.
“But you've got to figure out a way to strike a balance between it being a good TV product and it still being a season-long race. Right now, I don't know exactly how the ratings are or anything like that, but I know for a fact you can't really quite call it the season-long race when it comes down to one strokeplay tournament on the same golf course each year.”
The opening round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship begins on Thursday, with Scheffler grouped with Schauffele. The pair’s tee time is 1.45pm EDT (6.45pm BST).
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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.
He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.
Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.
Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.
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