Cascade Golfer editor Brian Beaky offers a few ideas to ramp up golf’s so-called “playoff”
by Brian Beaky, CG Editor
Since you’ve navigated to CascadeGolfer.com and are reading this article, I am going to assume that, like me, you’re a sports nut. Golf, of course, is my favorite game to play, but I have to confess that it’s far down the list of my favorite sports to watch on TV. Football, soccer, basketball, baseball, and even hockey rank above golf in my world, outside the first three majors (for my thoughts on the PGA Championship, click here).
On a week-to-week basis, I just don’t find it all that compelling. I’m a sucker for high-stakes drama — put something big on the line, like a major championship, a Ryder Cup, a history-making 59 or the chance for some golfer to do what few others have ever done before, and I’m glued to the screen. That extends to other sports, too — I’m no sailing buff, but I love the drama of the America’s Cup. And, like many, you’d never see me watching swimming, gymnastics, figure skating, or curling … but when there’s a gold medal on the line? Just try to tear me away.
This brings me to the FedEx Cup, what the PGA Tour would like us to perceive as a playoff. First, a quick primer: throughout the season, golfers earn FedEx Cup points based on their performances at golf’s regular-season events, which prior to 2014 ran from early January through late August. Following the Wyndham Championship, the top-125 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings are qualified for the four-event playoff, during which the field is whittled down little by little — from 125 in the first week, to 100 in the second, 70 in the third, and finally, just 30 golfers competing for the TOUR Championship and the $10 million grand prize.
Now, certainly, the cash is compelling — more than the top prize for all of the four majors, combined, and more than any PGA Tour golfer made in all of 2013. Even Tiger’s five wins and numerous other strong performances “only” grossed $8.5 million.
Yet, despite the overwhelming prize, I was never once tempted to flip my TV from college football or the NFL this weekend to check out the action in the FedEx Cup. I don’t know if it’s the convoluted playoff point system that renders the regular season practically irrelevant (in 2012, Nick Watney went from 49th to 1st after just one event), or the fact that a golfer can win the FedEx Cup despite losing the TOUR Championship — akin to watching Usain Bolt win the 100-meter dash final at the Olympics, only for another runner to be awarded the gold medal for having a lower accumulated time from the preliminary rounds and final combined — but the current FedEx Cup formula does little to draw me in.
Maybe I’m alone; the TV ratings would suggest that the FedEx Cup is catching on, as ratings for the first three weeks in 2013 were up 118 percent from 2012, with a 2.4 rating as compared to last year’s 1.1. Those same numbers, though, indicate that it has a ways to go — The Masters pulled a 10.2 rating, and the U.S. Open a 6.6. Certainly, those events don’t have football to compete with, but that’s just the point — to get golf fans to tune in on a September weekend, something needs to change.
Here’s what I’d suggest:
1. Match Play
Anyone who read my column on “fixing” the PGA Championship already knows how I feel about match play. Which is to say, it’s fantastic. Match play is, to me, the epitome of a playoff — one golfer against another, head to head, until only one remains. Bring the top 128 golfers to the postseason and seed them such that the No. 1 golfer is facing No. 128 in the first round. The easiest path to the finals would be a solid reward for a strong regular season, much more so than the relatively meaningless points system is now. However, that top seed would still have to prove himself one match at a time. Upsets would be common, and Cinderella stories would emerge. Hold the first three rounds on one weekend, Thursday-Saturday, weeding the field from 128 to a Sweet 16, and avoiding the ratings-devouring NFL Sunday. Then, the following weekend, play the Sweet 16 matches on Thursday, the Elite Eight and Final Four matches on Saturday, and the Championship match on Sunday, to air in the late-afternoon/prime-time, when the NFL slate is lighter. Are you telling me people around the country wouldn’t turn away from Rams-Cardinals or Raiders-Chargers to see Tiger and Stenson go head to head for 18 holes, with $10 million on the line?
2. Make The Championship a One-Off, and Weight the Field
This is a little less radical than going to match play, and accomplishes three things — making the TOUR Championship a true event, giving the best performers across the full season the advantage they’ve earned, and ensuring that the man atop the leaderboard at week’s end is the FedEx Cup champion.
Here’s how it would work: Keep the first three events of the playoff system exactly as they are (well, with a much-needed tweak to the points system, to keep a Watney-like jump from being possible after just one event). For the fourth and final event, with the top-30 players, weight the field going in. The No. 1 player starts at even par, players 2-5 at +1, players 6-10 at +2, 11-20 at +3, and 21-30 at +4. Then, play it out. The better you’ve performed throughout the season and playoffs, the better your chance at the $10 million prize. But it’s not on overwhelming advantage — play poorly, and you’re not going to hold your spot for long. Likewise, with the playoff points already factored into the pre-tournament score, there’s no calculator needed at weekend’s end to figure out who’s cashing the check — it’s the guy with the trophy, regardless of where he started in the field.
Those are just two ideas that come to mind when trying to figure out how to both increase public interest in the FedEx Cup and make the event more reflective of the golf season that just occurred. Do you like the FedEx Cup as it currently exists? What would you do to change it?