It is not a real surprise that PGA Tour members lean in the direction of group thinking. As a collective, they are so similar that they can just as well think in the same way. They lead similar lives, living in the same pair of regions of turmoils and will even expand comparable votes when they visit the polls.
It often shows itself in the form of positivity – Course is great, greens are great, have to shoot lower scores -But it is the most interesting in the form of non-position. Such as this week, when some of the best players in the world cannot really take the trouble to give the tournament a lot as the penultimate phase of the FedEx Cup -Play -offs.
Take Rory McIlroy’s press availability after his first round Thursday, where he was asked whether the changed size – without ‘starting regions’ – changes its approach.
“I think it would still be fun to finish second after this week to get a little more money, I think,” said McIlroy. “Yes, again, I think you are doing your best to win the golf tournament. Yes, I think you just don’t look that much at the leaderboards, because it clearly doesn’t really matter in the following week where you are.”
Four times in that answer: I think, I think, I think.
There was no gambling which ‘play -offs’ meant for McIlroy last week. He skipped the first stage of the FedEx Cup trend and meanwhile placed on Instagram promotion for the Race of the DP World Tour to Dubai, events that were held in three months. McIlroy admitted that he wanted some extra rest, given how busy the end of his 2025 would be, and the annual sweaty fool of a mid -summer week in Memphis was easy to drop.
Jason Day said he was more than ready for the tour to bring his play -offs somewhere except hot and damp Memphis in August. The tour that stops in the markets in New York, Chicago and Boston at least every other year. The courses were more “iconic” in the spirit of Day than where the tournaments are now going, with Olympia Fields, Medinah, TPC Boston, etc.
“At one point I hope we will go back there, because I think it would be fun to go back to some good memories, especially on a golf course that I liked,” Day said.
You can almost take the whole of Scottie Scheffler’s Post-Round Perstance Time, where he was lined and hawked and admitted that the current system is normal … fine.
“I think if you look at the FedExcup, I think it’s a greater discussion,” said Scheffler. “As if you are going to have a real seasonal hose race, really the best player wins every year, chances are that it will not be that interesting of a conclusion in most years.”
This year’s size, for Scheffler, is better than starting strokes. If winning the FedEx Cup is your goal, it will take a good season to go to the Tour Championship, “then it’s on,” said Scheffler. That is in line with everyone who wants to win a major, knowing that they must qualify for that major and then have to play well at the right time.
But … Scheffler still kept the original system best – when players received Fedex Cup points for the entire season, even during the Tour Championship – even if he knows it was poor, because it was difficult for fans to know exactly what was needed to win.
That concept that the FedEx Cup -Play -offs are poor is so omnipresent, it requires the question: how long can we continue to do this without major change that is locked up in place … forever? Or for at least a few decades – long enough to ensure that it means something on the annual calendar. Or means something closer to what the tour marketing staff tells you that it means.
Without the consistency of the size, visiting locations of the players who love, those events exclusively timing until the month of August and that guaranteeing that thing that everyone plays for, feels extra special, the play -offs conversation can eventually lean in a completely different direction. For that, our example comes back to Scottie Scheffler, whose pre-tournament press conference more revolved around the Ryder Cup than something else. So much that Scheffler had to stop and remember reporters Hey, that’s not for another month.
“I like to answer questions about the Ryder Cup, but this is ridiculous,” said Scheffler Grinnikend. “We are at the BMW championship. The Ryder Cup is more than a month removed. If you want to talk about this week, let’s talk about this week. If not, I will have an exercise to do. I am getting ready for a golf tournament.”
Scheffler was light when he said it, but he meant it. You can’t blame him for not wanting to talk about anything than the BMW championship. But again, you cannot blame the reporters for wanting to talk about an event that is much more important.
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