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The PGA Tour's best player, Scottie Scheffler, has made it pretty clear over the past week: The FedEx Cup Playoffs? Sure, they're fine. Not really his thing, though.
“I talked about it the last few years, I think it's silly,” Scheffler said before last week's FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind. “You can't call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament.”
The top 70 finishers in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the St. Jude, won by Hideki Matsuyama. Scheffler (-14) finished T4 in Memphis. The top 50 in the standings after that event progressed to the BMW Championship in Colorado. The top 30 in Castle Springs will advance to the Tour Championship, at East Lake (Aug. 29).
Scheffler, who finished T4 in Memphis, has a massive lead in the points race. Rory McIlroy, the only three-time FedEx Cup champ, disagreed with Scheffler.
“I love this format because if it wasn't this format, then none of us would have a chance against Scottie because he's so far ahead,” said McIlroy, a two-time PGA Tour winner this year, said in Memphis.
“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.”
Prior to the BMW, Scheffler elaborated on his initial remarks. In doing so, he revealed his own tepid investment in the PGA Tour's postseason system.
Scottie Scheffler downplays FedEx Cup
“You have to find the balance between having a good TV product and also identifying the best player for the season, and right now — my comments last week, it's not technically a season-long race,” Scheffler said at Castle Springs. “Basically, the way I would describe it is, you have to play solid golf most of the season and then you have to have a really good Playoffs.
“It's the FedExCup Playoffs. The winner of the FedExCup played the best for these three weeks in the Playoffs. Some years that would be the best player for the whole year and some years it won't.”
Billy Horschel — who addressed the media before Scheffler and was asked about his prior comments — went as far as comparing his own upset over McIlroy in the 2014 FedEx Cup to arguably the greatest Cinderella Super Bowl run in NFL history.
“Scottie said it's silly. I don't agree with that. It's never rewarded the best player throughout the regular season. I won the '14 FedExCup. Rory McIlroy was clearly the best player that year. He had won two majors. He came in on a high note. I was 69th in the start of the FedEx. I missed the first cut.
“I go second, win, win, and I win the FedExCup. It's no different than the New York Giants and beating the New England Patriots and starting the Playoffs 9-7 I think it was and the Patriots being undefeated and then winning the Super Bowl.”
“Could we reward the regular season a little bit more? Sure, we can,” added Horschel. “But this is a Playoffs. Anything can happen.”
Scheffler, perhaps understandably, doesn't feel like he has anything to prove after a historic season. Plus, the FedEx Cup playoffs haven't been kind to him. Scheffler has twice entered East Lake — which deploys a staggered stroke system based on the points race — in the top spot, only to falter.
“If I was to truly say I want to play my best golf at East Lake, this may have been a week where I would have taken off just because there's so much emphasis on East Lake,” Scheffler said before the BMW. “I kind of figured out this year, I don't love playing the week before a major championship, and so with East Lake having so much importance in the season-long race, if I was to truly look at my goal at the beginning of the year is to win East Lake, this would be a week where I would consider maybe taking off, especially with the points lead that I have.
“But at the end of the day, I talk about not one trophy being much more important than another. Yeah, I would love to win the FedExCup but I would also love to win this tournament. I've never won a playoff event before, so that would be something that would be really cool to do.”
Scheffler is guaranteed to start the 2024 Tour Championship in first or second position.
