The FedExCup has a unique format at the Tour Championship that not all PGA Tour players like.
That’s foolish, said Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 ranked player, at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week. He started the week with more strokes than he has in the past two years but hasn’t been able to maintain that lead.
But Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa like the format.
Hovland gave Schaeffler a thumbs up and got candid when discussing the FedExCup format on Wednesday ahead of the BMW Championship.
He said it was “definitely” not a good way to determine a season champion.
“Scotty deserves to be the player of the year because I don’t think anyone can match what he’s done this year,” Hovranad said. “The playoffs are there for a reason. They’ve been done so many times before, and you never know which one will work best.”
“I think we’ve come up with a pretty good format. I think it works well. Is it perfect? I wouldn’t say so. But to be honest, I haven’t really thought about it that much, so I don’t know how to do it better.”
Former Oklahoma State Cowboys player Hovlan answered the question honestly and sincerely. Hovlan admitted he didn’t give it much thought and kept his comments short. He didn’t try to pretend it was awful or great. Instead, he gave the best answer he could.
As the defending champions it may be difficult to criticise the format, but Hovlan’s explanation felt apt nonetheless.
Of course, the PGA Tour is a “player-driven” tour and players should be able to publicly voice their opinions, but will that change?
A lot can change about the playoffs and the schedule, but what would it take to change that? Golf is changing, and maybe now is the time to listen to these players.
