Cantlay Voted By Peers As Player Of The Year Despite Struggles In Majors

I reviewed the PGA Tour Player of the Year vote in the latest Quadrilateral and rounded up the Tweets puncturing the case for Patrick Cantlay deserving the award over Jon Rahm.

Nothing against Cantlay’s season, but for players to so openly ignore major success, prompted the question and attempted answer: do they put cash ahead of majors?

Anyway, for posterity and some laughs from the case for Cantlay (seven top tens when Rahm had 15 in 22 starts), here is the full Player Of The Year press release:

FedExCup Champion Patrick Cantlay voted 2021 PGA TOUR Player of the Year

California native earns Jack Nicklaus Award after four-win season 

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced today that FedExCup Champion Patrick Cantlay has been named the 2021 PGA TOUR Player of the Year as voted by the TOUR’s membership for the 2020-21 season. Cantlay won four times on the season including back-to-back victories in the FedExCup Playoffs. 

Cantlay, who will receive the Jack Nicklaus Award for winning PGA TOUR Player of the Year, was selected for the honor over (alphabetically) Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English, Collin Morikawa and Jon Rahm.

“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, I would like to congratulate Patrick Cantlay on being honored as the 2021 PGA TOUR Player of the Year,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “Receiving this award through a member vote reflects the respect his peers have for Patrick. His play throughout 2020-21 was phenomenal, and in stepping up to win consecutive FedExCup Playoffs events and the FedExCup, Patrick was at his best when it mattered most in our season.”

With wins at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, BMW Championship and TOUR Championship, Cantlay (4) was the only player with more than two during the 2020-21 season. The last player with four or more victories in a single season on the PGA TOUR was Justin Thomas in 2016-17.

Cantlay shot a final-round 65 to win the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP by one stroke over Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, with his second win of the season coming via a playoff against Collin Morikawa at the Memorial Tournament. At the BMW Championship, Cantlay set the record for most Strokes Gained: Putting during the ShotLink era (14.577) en route to defeating Bryson DeChambeau in a six-hole playoff. He beat Rahm by one stroke at the TOUR Championship the following week. Every player that finished runner-up to Cantlay in his four wins either won a major championship or THE PLAYERS at another point in the season (DeChambeau, Morikawa, Rahm, Thomas).

In all, Cantlay made 24 starts and recorded seven top-10s, with top-five finishes at The American Express (2nd) and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (T3) complementing his four titles. He was the only player to finish in the top 30 in the four major Strokes Gained categories (Off the Tee, Approach the Green, Around the Green, Putting).

Cantlay joined the PGA TOUR as a member for the first time in the 2013-14 season but made just six starts over the next three seasons as he recovered from a back injury. In 2016-17, Cantlay qualified for the TOUR Championship despite making only 13 starts and finished 29th in the FedExCup standings. He won twice on the PGA TOUR before the start of this season (2017 Shriners Children’s Open, 2019 the Memorial Tournament) and has now qualified for the TOUR Championship in four of the last five seasons.

PGA TOUR members who played at least 15 official FedExCup events during the 2020-21 season were eligible to vote.

Justin Thomas Is The PGA Of America's Player Of 2020, FedExCup Champ Finishes 5th

The best player of the year award for my money is free of politics and top secret votes. Unfortunately, it lands well before 2020’s schedule has played out. With two majors to go, the PGA of America has opted to acknowledge the PGA Tour’s wraparound schedule pandemic push that centered around the FedExCup holding its dates, followed by a “new” season this week in Napa.

In return, the system used to determine winner failed to acknowledge the FedExCup champ in the top 4 spots despite an incredible run by Dustin Johnson, putting the playoff’s place in a surprising historical context given the shortened season placing even more emphasis on those events (theoretically at least).

PGA Tour players and the Golf Writers Association of America will award POY winners in September and December, respectively.

For Immediate Release:

JUSTIN THOMAS CAPTURES SECOND CAREER PGA OF AMERICA PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Webb Simpson wins his first Vardon Trophy

Click here for the final 2020 PGA Player of the Year & Vardon Trophy standings

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (Sept. 8, 2020) – Justin Thomas edged Jon Rahm to capture his second PGA of America Player of the Year Award, presented by the PGA of America for excellence by a PGA TOUR professional.

Thomas, who won three season events, earned his second career PGA Player of the Year honor and first since 2017. 

Thomas collected 66 overall points, including 30 for winning The CJ Cup at Nine Bridges, Sentry Tournament of Champions and the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Thomas shared runner-up honors in the FedEx Cup with Xander Schauffele. 

Rahm finished with 56 points for his highest-ever PGA Player of the Year performance, while PGA Champion Collin Morikawa (54) was third and Webb Simpson (52) fourth, while collecting his first Vardon Trophy. 

Thomas won the season money title (20 points) based upon events prior to the 30-player FedEx Cup finale, and he finished third in the Vardon Trophy race for 16 points.
 
Schauffele posted a 265 total for 72 holes in the TOUR Championship, earning 10 points under PGA of America rules that reward the low scorer to determine the PGA Player of the Year. 

Since 1948, the PGA of America has honored the game’s best players with the PGA Player of the Year Award. It is presented to the top TOUR professional based on a point system for tournament wins, official money standings, and scoring averages. Points for the 2019-20 season began with the A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier on Sept. 12, 2019, and concluded Monday, Sept. 7, at the TOUR Championship.

With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the TOUR schedule, there was only one major championship -- the PGA Championship -- played within the regular season points system.  

In the Vardon Trophy race, Simpson finished with a 68.978 adjusted scoring average based upon 52 complete rounds. Rahm was runner-up at 69.127; followed by Thomas (69.128), Rory McIlroy (69.219) and Schauffele (69.227).

Since 1937, the Vardon Trophy, named by the PGA of America in honor of legendary British golfer Harry Vardon, has been presented annually to the touring professional with the lowest adjusted scoring average. With 11 PGA Tour events canceled due to the pandemic, the Vardon Trophy required a minimum of 44 rounds, with no incomplete rounds, in events co-sponsored or designated by the PGA TOUR. The adjusted score was computed from the average score of the field at each event.

The PGA TOUR also recognizes its annual Player of the Year, with the winner announced in September, determined by a vote of the membership.

Johnson Claims $15 Million And Now We Don't Have To Hear About The FedExCup Again Until Thursday

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.

My congratulatory letter to #FedEx Champion @DJohnsonPGA pic.twitter.com/bCoJPx5lR4

— Club Pro Guy (@ClubProGuy) September 8, 2020

Highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:

Jon Rahm Sinks Epic 66-Footer To Pull Within Two Of Dustin Johnson's Tour Championship Lead

Oh, and that amazing putt helped Rahm claim the BMW Championship in a thrilling finish over Dustin Johnson, who also made a doozy to send the tournament into overtime.

But I digress. Why focus on the BMW when the real story is next week’s Thursday leaderboard? While we’re in the midst of this playoff let’s send it down to Steve Sands for more. Will JT be four back or two back next Friday? Could Rahm cut into his deficit next week with a win this week? Inquiring minds do not need to know.

Fourteen years into this FedExCup, we’re still subjected to the hard sell. I realize there is a gargantuan sum of money at stake. And a season-long sponsor demanding full value for their investment even at the expense of other sponsors trying to have their moment. Yet once again, a compelling final round on a penalizing parkland course was mostly overshadowed by the effort to push FedExCup narratives that no sane individual cares about in the best of times. During a pandemic, it’s nails-on-the-chalkboard stuff. Especially with a fascinating final round featuring a better-than-most variety of characters.

As NBC’s Paul Azinger noted on Saturday, the FedExCup is a “pretty prestigious” competition. That was an apparently slight he mopped up, undoubtedly after an 904 area code popped-up on someone’s phone. This overall demand to focus on the perennially lame “playoff’ race was more of a shame than normal. The NBC team really never got to go deep on any topic or even do something mildly in-depth on the difficult setup conditions. There were just too many non-BMW obligations to juggle.

Even Mackenzie Hughes’s putt to get into the Tour Championship, while dramatic, felt like NBC’s team turning it into Ouimet beating Vardon and Ray. The hard sell brings down genuinely great moments.

Producer Tommy Roy was working without several once-normal production values that would have made this “playoff” event better. Yet the final putt replay sequence was vintage NBC stuff, yet not having an aerial shot of a few key tee shots getting amazing kicks off of trees turned out to be a huge storytelling miss we’re not used to with NBC. Particularly with CBS now mastering that element over the last 11 weeks and Winged Foot looming in two weeks, we can only hope the accountants loosen some purse strings. (NBC’s 2006 U.S. Open coverage was so epic in part thanks to aerial’s of Phil’s 18th hole adventure.)

Mercifully on this Sunday, we had Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm to thank for an unforgettable 2020 BMW finish.

Their absurdly long putts are embedded below and Daniel Rapaport covers all of Rahm and Johnson’s reactions here at GolfDigest.com. If you just have to know what the Tour Championship leaderboard looks like Friday morning (Labor Day finish), Ben Everill has it in this FedExCup points race roundup.

Take a look at the ShotLink scatter chart for the 18th green Sunday and note how there was no birdie putt resembling what Rahm made. Johnson’s make in regulation is highlighted in the second slide followed by a clean slide showing the 18th hole birdies in regulation:

Video of Johnson’s incredible 18th hole birdie putt, sending the 2020 BMW into overtime:

Rahm’s 66-footer for the ages:

The final round highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:

WGC FedEx St. Jude In July, In Memphis, Gets “One-Time” Field Filler Clause

Rex Hoggard’s GolfChannel.com item sarys the PGA Tour Policy Board is offering a “one-time” clause designed to fill out July 30-August 2nd’s WGC FedEx St. Jude field. What prompted it so far out, well, is pretty apparent.

In no particular order: Memphis in July/August, a date the week before the PGA Championship, or the inability or disinterest of international players to arrive and potentially have to quarantine for 14 days to play in Memphis in July/August the week before the PGA.

Hoggard writes:

Players were informed on Wednesday that the policy board has approved a one-time exemption for the event for players beyond No. 50 in the world ranking if the field is less than 78 players.

The current qualification includes players inside the top 50 in the world on March 16, when the rankings were frozen, and those inside the top 50 following next week’s Memorial.

“To maximize playing opportunities, adding an alternate list constructed from the next available players in order beyond 50th position on the Official World Golf Ranking [on July 20] . . . the alternate list would be utilized to fill the field to a limit of 78 players,” the memo read.

Optimize playing opportunities.

A spectacular euphemism for “we can’t fill the field with the current criteria and $10.5 million.”

This all was totally avoidable had this World Golf Championship gone somewhere outside the U.S. or somewhere other than FedEx’s home city in the hottest months. But they wanted a WGC and got it.

Monahan: FedExCup Payments Could Multiply Three To Four Times Of 2018's $35 Million Payout

There are a few things to consider in Commissioner Jay Monahan’s extended CNBC interview off camera and written up by Jessica Golden at CNBC.com. This one went better that the on-camera chat.

The primary focus was of Golden’s story was on Monahan’s rebuttal to the Premier Golf League: more FedExCup money!

In terms of bonus money, FedExCup and Wyndham’s rewards for the Top-10 golfers goes from $70 million this year to $100 million in 2022.

Wyndam’s rewards.

“Every single person on our tour is going to see an increase,” Monahan said.

Monahan said over course of the new deal, PGA Tour golfers could see FedExCup payouts three to four times that of the $35 million paid out in 2018 and increased prize money for some of the biggest events.

 A) It’s intriguing the Commish used 2018’s $35 million as the number the pot will jump three to four times from. In 2019 the FedExCup jumped to $60 million, with a $15 million first prize.

B) The focus on “every single person on our tour” seeing an increase won’t inspire fans and seemed tone deaf on a day the markets were cratering and news of a new media deal really shouldn’t be about the cold hard cash. Yes, the Commissioner reports to the players, but he should have saved that talk for the player meetings and instead focus in this rollout on how the rights deal will improve the “product”.

The 2019 FedExCup "Playoffs" Are Off To Pretty Rough Start

Just to review the week in case you weren’t watching the commencement of the 2019 PGA Tour “Playoffs”...

Tiger WD’d and it’ll take a major improvement for him to defend his title at East Lake.

PGA Tour Live’s Featured Group coverage exposed horrendous examples of slow play masked by normal golf tournament coverage that jumps around a course full of players. The clips go viral and highlight Bryson DeChambeau’s slow play. The episode is a reminder of how unappealing it is to see every shot of every player sometimes, much less pay for such a privilege as the Tour believes will happen starting in 2022.

The Northern Trust’s weekend was totally overshadowed by a slow play controversy.

The PGA Tour added to the distraction by issuing a fluffy Staff-reported story during the final round, prompting more on the news of a ShotLink-leveraged solution to this problem instead of the playoff event playing out.

Patrick Reed won in an oddly flat final round despite a great leaderboard. The shockingly lukewarm applause after Reed’s final putt summed up the flat finish.

Reed jumped from 50th to 2nd in the FedExCup points, a silly leap if we are to believe claims of season long points and rewarding early season play mattering.

The CBS team sounded giddiest talking about their final broadcast of 2019 and Saturday night goodbye party.

But hey there’s time and a new, wacky format awaiting at East Lake—Patrick Reed, one win and four top 10’s, would be only two strokes back of Brooks Koepka if the Tour Championship started today, even though Koepka won three times and went T2-1-2-T4 in the majors.

The whole 2019 playoff thing could work out well and get way better. It better.

Weird Is The Operative (Revamped) PGA Tour Playoff Word So Far

As week one of the three week playoff-run is underway and we build up to the finish at East Lake, flaws in the new Tour Championship finale are becoming more evident as it is explained to fans. (For a full explanation of the format, Mike McAllister has it here for PGATour.com.)

Adam Schupak calls the entire thing “weird” in this MorningRead.com piece, setting up the final structure at East Lake when the first two events have whittled the field to 30. I guess I missed a memo, but I wasn’t aware just how much the new setup waters down performance from the regular season or a dominant playoff run. In particular, the perks of finishing 11th to 20th on the season.

…change is that instead of a points reset before the finale, the powers-that-be have concocted a staggered start by which the FedEx Cup leader begins the tournament at 10 under, No. 2 at 8 under, No. 3 at 7 under, No. 4 at 6 under and No. 5 at 5 under. Players 6-10 will be at 4 under, 11-15 at 3 under, 16-20 at 2 under, 21-25 at 1 under and 26-30 will start at even par. Under this new scoring system, only one winner will be crowned on Sunday: the overall FedEx Cup champion.

I can’t quite figure out how anyone outside the top 10 gets any kind of scoring head start. Shoot, why aren’t Nos. 21-30 starting over par?

Do places 11-15 really deserve to be within seven of the FedExCup leader, who had a far more successful year? And if No. 20 makes up eight shots, is that person really deserving of winning a season-long race?

It seems the handicapping system here is flawed, maybe fatally.

Think of it from the leader’s perspective: he could have a wildly dominant season and playoffs, but still have that domination wiped down to a five-stroke lead over someone at No. 5 who wins the Tour Championship and the $15 million first prize?

No wonder so many top players played such light schedules. They incentive to build a war chest of points just isn’t there.

Schupak also writes:

And here’s guessing that in a few years’ time, the Tour will be tweaking the format again.

The players have $60 million reasons to sing the praises of the new way of keeping score – “At least people know where they stand,” is the best McIlroy could muster – but here’s all you need to know about what they really think of this change: Their precious world-ranking points will be based on how players perform in the 72-hole tournament at East Lake without the handicapping. No trophy, no dollars and no public scoreboard, but a prize to play for, all the same.

Weird.

Justin Rose Questions Playing Majors So Close Together

I penned this explanation—delivered with his typical gentle forthrightness—here for Golfweek. 

I will say, in the FedExCup’s defense (which Rose rightfully says should not be dictating the major schedule)—that the real juggernaut is not necessarily the “playoffs” but the NFL and college football season golf is working around. 

Either way, however, the numbers are suggesting top players have played less in the calendar year portion due to the tighter schedule and that can’t make sponsors or television happy.

Thankfully It's Still 2018: Tiger Opens Tour Championship With 65, Tied For Lead

Golfweek’s David Dusek has the details of Tiger’s first round at East Lake in five years and it was a beauty.

“This was by far better than the 62 at Aronimink,” Woods said, referring to his opening round at the BMW Championship two weeks ago. “Conditions were soft there. It’s hard to get the ball close here. There’s so much chase in it. If you drive the ball in the rough, you know you can’t get the ball close.”

If this were 2019 and Tiger came into the Tour Championship/FedExCup finale 20th in the standings, things would have been different after round one given the new “strokes-based” handicap system announced this week. As Joel Beall notes for GolfDigest.com, “thank the golf gods the system doesn't come to fruition until next fall.”

Beall posts the full top 8 and Tiger would be five back of Justin Rose after one round.

Of more note for those wanting to consider how the system will work for the Cup leaders, there is Bryson DeChambeau—winner of two playoff events and the FedExCup leader—already three back following an opening 71.

Ranking The 11 FedExCup Finishes: Kyle Porter Deserves Time-And-A-Half

Maybe he just wanted to inflict pain upon himself during the bye week or maybe some editor was annoyed with Kyle Porter of CBSSports.com, because I can’t fathom anyone wanting to relive the eleven FedExCup finishes in much detail. Though Porter has provided a service to anyone wanting to know why the format will be changing.

A glance at the list yielded one quibble for me—Furyk’s backward cap year is only 6th!?—and mostly sympathy for Porter’s plight in trying to find the beauty in what has to be one of the drearier sets of championship-concluding memories.

The stars are aligned for a grand finish this year regardless of format, so keep those fingers crossed!

Perhaps starting in 2019 we’ll get a new format that yields something more satisfying. I’m confident it won’t take much of a change to get there, but still unsure about the floated concept. From Morning Drive:

Focus Group-Tested, Players-Approved FedExCup For 2019 Still Lacks A Certain Something

Let's establish a few things for those who might have forgotten: the FedExCup has been a resounding success despite lackluster ratings and constant tweaking over the years.

Which, of course, is why something so good, so brilliantly conceived, and so universally adored by the masses will be blown up in 2019. Despite years of great suggestions from all corners of the golf watching world, it should be noted the PGA Tour chose to cook up an internal idea that has some merit but also potential holes.

 AP's Doug Ferguson says the vaunted points system, resets and algorithms will be tossed in favor of a scoring bias system that starts the FedExCup leader at -10 and works its way down from there.

The problem was splitting attention on two trophies. A year ago, Xander Schauffele won the Tour Championship by one shot over Justin Thomas, who won the FedEx Cup. Thomas said later it was a “weird” moment to lose the tournament and win the $10 million prize.

This means we have a weird 72-hole stroke play event where one player starts with a 10-stroke advantage, the next guy 8 strokes, and on down for the top 5. Presumably after those top 5 everyone else will start from scratch. 

After legions of great suggestions over the years ranging from aggregate stroke play playoffs to points systems that produce a one-day shootout any sports fan can understand, we have something crafted by focus groups. Literally.

From Brian Wacker's GolfWorld.com story with more details on the concept:

According to multiple sources, the organization gathered statisticians and focus groups to help flesh out the format and gauge how well the changes would be received. Roughly 80 percent of the focus groups grasped the concept and said it was easier to understand, according to one source.

This handicap tournament will count as an official win despite the stroke-weighted structure. 

No doubt, Cialis prescriptions went unused for days when the statisticians and tour executives were told the new format would have produced a one-stroke Justin Thomas win over Jordan Spieth in 2018.  (Spieth held the FedExCup lead over Thomas heading to East Lake, so this presumes he started -10 to Thomas's -8).

That duel surely would have made for some great theater, but the year before, Dustin Johnson would have played just a so-so final tournament and have beaten Rory McIlroy by three strokes. That McIlroy win in a playoff was confusing but also possibly the most exciting in the Tour Championship's FedExCup era despite the confusion over scenarios.

Ultimately Sundays at East Lake should get better and maybe even make more sense in this scenario. But before you say Billy Horschel, the PGA Tour's Playoffs(C) have always lacked the dramatic potential for wild upsets, surprise eliminations and an underdog component. 

The final four days at East Lake will still be just like before: three days of ho-hum golf with fingers crossed the numbers add up to make Sunday work. Which begs the question: what so has the players, execs and focus-groups still afraid to cut after 36 holes, reset the points, cut again for an exciting Saturday, then feature a Sunday shootout with just a few playing-for-the-big-check?

I guess we still will never find out.

How's This For A Tour Championship Plus One Scenario?

If the 2017 Tour Championship had been in 2019 when it could potentially change, here's how I would love to have seen it play out.

Remember, the schedule that year will likely finish on Labor Day Monday, meaning the Tour Championship could start on Thursday and end on Sunday.

Instead of everyone trying to figure out who is winning the FedExCup and overshadowing a golf tournament Coca Cola pays handsomely to sponsor, what if Sunday was mostly about the Tour Championship and the need to make it to championship Monday.

In the case of the 2017 Tour Championship, Xander Schauffele's win would have been a huge way to sneak in to the Monday finish. And what happens Monday?

Why six players at 18 holes of very simple stroke play for $10 million.

If the Tour Championship this year had cut to six--other numbers seem awkward--we'd have the guys broken into two threesomes or three twosomes playing Labor Day Monday for the big prize.

Here were the top six after play Sunday at East Lake courtesy of GolfChannel.com and I must say, kind of a perfect scenario of season long stars and playoff upstarts:

And here are the almost-finalists who had nice seasons and playoffs, but I think everyone would agree, were not deserving of making it to Monday's madness either because of playoff struggles or just not enough regular season success.

For those who don't recall the many times I've floated these scenarios where we send the algorithms home and just let the lads play golf, spare me the arguments that season long success must matter to the very end.

At some point we have to cut the cord and just make this a very simple shootout for the big money.

The entertainment will ensue and even better, sponsors will love it, television will have something to talk about that is actually more interesting than a mysterious mathematical formula, and the average fan will be able to follow along. Best of all, the sun will still rise in the east and set in the west.

Casey Leads, Kisner Copters Out: Another FedExCup Is (Mercifully) About To End!

Outside of player accountants, I know almost none of you will have the live updated FedExCup standings page open during Sunday's Tour Championship finale at East Lake. That's because the competition you hate having to explain to inquisitive friends is about to wrap another year of...promoted pieces telling us how great the FedExCup is.

At least something that might make more sense--splitting the Tour Championship from a FedExCup final day--is in the works pending player input. Until then, we'll be held hostage to the algorithms, which makes explaining scenarios very tough sledding (Wacker/GolfDigest.com).

At least this year there was the fun of Kevin Kisner helicoptering out of Atlanta to watch his beloved Georgia Bulldogs to remind us where most sports fans would rather be (DiMeglio/USA Today). Kisner Tweeted a photo and credited Justin Thomas for helping him find the ride (Hoggard/Golfweek).

At least there is Xander Schauffele emerging as a big time player almost out of nowhere, including after a terrible start to the season. (Babineau/Golfweek).

At least Justin Thomas doesn't care where he stands when the numbers crunchers tried to inform of his Sunday scenarios (Babineau/Golfweek).

And at least there is Paul Casey to root for, who has played spectacularly in "playoff" events without winning (Everill/PGATour.com) and whose track record in final rounds does not match his talent (Murray/Guardian).

Points leader Jordan Spieth is feeling mostly powerless in the chase for the Cup after a third round 69 (Hoggard/GolfChannel.com).

PGA Tour Considering Shocking Plan To Emphasize Entertainment And Clarity Over Current Playoff Conclusion

I'm getting ahead of myself here because, after all, Doug Ferguson's AP report on the possible FedExCup playoff change wil be taken to the players for feedback. You know, the same players who said 72-holes of stroke play is the only way for Olympic golf to be presented.

Still, the possibility of a playoff shakeup is exciting. Sure, Steve Sands will have to retire the white board and algorithm writers may protest a Sunday finish that is straight-stroke play, but we'll deal with that when it happens.

ShackHouse listeners know I floated two scenarios this week, including an algorithm-driven elimination system that whittles the field down after 36 and 54 holes.

And while I think that would be great fun, especially by injecting life into Tour Championship rounds other than Sunday, the scenario Tour officials are considering makes more political sense. In other words, it will hurt fewer feelings.

One concept being explored is staging the Tour Championship, handing out a trophy, and then the top FedEx Cup finishers playing the next day over 18 holes to determine the winner.

That's a long way off from becoming a reality, and it includes feedback from the players. One area of dissent is that the current system works fine.

Fine=draws ratings in the mid 1's consistently!