ATLANTA (AP) — How to win the FedEx Cup has never been more clear.
Scottie Scheffler leads a 30-man field at the Tour Championship. They play 72 holes at East Lake and whoever has the lowest score gets $10 million in official prize money, an official victory and world ranking points.
Except for the big boost in prize money, it’s no different from how the Tour Championship was before words like “points” and “playoffs” entered the golf vernacular.
And that’s why the significance of winning the FedEx Cup has never been more confusing.
Scheffler has had the best season. He has twice as many FedEx Cup points as Rory McIlroy, twice as many majors (2-1) and two more wins. But now the FedEx Cup — described by the PGA Tour as a “season-long points competition” — comes down to one tournament where everyone starts on equal ground.
Can it be a season-long competition if the winner Sunday hadn’t won a tournament all year?
“Yeah, you’re definitely the FedEx Cup champion,” said Patrick Cantlay, who hasn’t won a tournament all year. “I think at this point, if you played a whole year and get into the Tour Championship with the 30 best guys who have played the best all year, and you beat them that week with everything on the line, that’s a huge accomplishment.”
It’s about getting to East Lake. And then it’s about one good week, just like Viktor Hovland had at the Valspar Championship, like Chris Gotterup had at the Scottish Open. Both are outside the top 20 in the FedEx Cup, happy and deserving to be at East Lake.
Twelve players at East Lake did well enough to get here without winning. If they win, are they the season-long FedEx Cup champion?
Even with a half-dozen changes to the postseason format dating to 2007, the best player didn’t always win the FedEx Cup.
McIlroy won two majors and a World Golf Championship in 2014 and didn’t win it. The three times he did win the FedEx Cup, McIlroy was never at the top of the points list throughout the entire postseason until he delivered the goods at East Lake.
Scheffler was among those adamant about changing from “starting strokes,” which gave the No. 1 seed — him each of the last three years — at least a two-shot lead over the field before the tournament started. It still took him the third try to finally win it.
He was in favor of giving up an advantage at a tournament where he has never posted the low 72-hole score and finished out of the top 10 in three of his five appearances. But Scheffler and others felt strongly that giving all 30 players the same chance is the way to identify the FedEx Cup champion.
“When you look at the FedEx Cup, I think it’s a greater discussion,” he said. “If you’re going to have a true season-long race — truly the best player every year wins — odds are it’s not going to come to an interesting of a conclusion in most years.”
In other words, the race already would be over at this point.
“In order to win the FedEx Cup, you have to play good golf at the right time,” he said. “In our sport, in order to accomplish what you want to accomplish, you have to play good golf at the right time. If you want to win major championships, you have to play great golf major championship weeks.”
That’s where the clarity comes in.
The Tour Championship, which identifies the FedEx Cup champion, is no different from playing a major championship. That’s when players want to be at their best. Scheffler was at Quail Hollow and Royal Portrush. He wasn’t at Augusta National or Oakmont.
“Once you get to the Tour Championship, you’ve had a great season,” Scheffler said. “And now you have an opportunity to go out and win the FedEx Cup. But you have to play good golf at the right time.”
What hasn’t changed since the FedEx Cup began in 2007 is rewarding consistently good golf with an emphasis at the end of the year.
Play great all year and East Lake is a lock, which is why McIlroy was able to skip the first postseason event. Some played well enough that even a bad start in the postseason didn’t keep them from advancing to the BMW Championship. Do just enough to be among the top 70 who get into the postseason and there is no margin for error.
And then at East Lake, bring your best.
“I think a lot of times the media is always looking for something where we’re looking for a perfect finish to the year,” Scheffler said. “Look at what LIV is doing with their final tournament. I tried to read about it the other day — I still can’t figure out what they’re trying to do with the final tournament. It’s not easy to figure out a true season-long race.
“And I think when you’re looking for an interesting finish to the year, I think we’ve got it down pretty good where you have 25, 30 weeks to prove yourself to get into the Tour Championship and then it’s game on.”
The season-long points race is not for the FedEx Cup. Scheffler won that, and he already has been rewarded with $15 million in bonus money.
The race is for the opportunity.
“I don’t care who you are, it’s hard to get into this top 30,” Harris English said. “You’ve had a hell of a year if you’re made it this far. I like it that everyone starts at zero. This is a culmination of getting everyone to square one, the top 30 guys. Now go get it.”
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On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
