Three-time FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy has defended the PGA Tour format ahead of the St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind
Rory McIlroy has launched a defence over the PGA Tour format ahead of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
The FedEx Cup is a season-long competition to crown the best PGA golfer, with players accumulating points from events throughout the year. The top 70 golfers from January to August qualify for the first FedEx Cup playoff at the St. Jude Championship, which tees off on Thursday.
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The field is whittled down to 50 for the BMW Championship, with winners of each playoff event adding 2,000 points to their existing total; quadruple the number for a full-field PGA event. The season finale then sees the top 30 battle it out in the PGA Tour Championship, which features a staggered-stroke system and allows the FedEx Cup leader to start on 10-under-par, two shots ahead of second place.
It is designed to help ensure that there is no runaway winner before the Tour Championship, with the FedEx Cup champion pocketing a £19.4million ($25m) jackpot. Several top stars, including LIV Golf ace Jon Rahm, have branded the format unfair – but three-time winner McIlroy believes the FedEx Cup allows the season to end with a flourish.
“I love this format because if it wasn’t this format, then none of us would have a chance against Scottie [Scheffler] because he’s so far ahead,” McIlroy said ahead of the St. Jude Championship.
“He’s so far ahead, and you don’t expect Scottie to finish outside the top five, either. By the way – I think it makes the Tour Championship more exciting from a consumer standpoint.”
McIlroy did at least admit: “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. The first year that it was the starting strokes at Tour Championship in 2019, I was able to win that one, and then in ’22 again.
“I like this format. It sort of feels like it’s a bit of a reset after the regular season,” McIlroy added. “Everyone is not quite on a level playing field, but it feels a little more like that.”
While acknowledging the entertainment value for fans, ex-world No. 1 Rahm previously laid into the play-off system, arguing that it overlooked his success on the PGA Tour. Rahm no longer has to deal with those issues, though, as his switch to LIV Golf in December makes him ineligible to compete in the FedEx Cup.
“I don’t like it, I don’t think it’s fair,” Rahm said in 2021. “I don’t like that at all. I think you have the play-offs itself and win the first two, and if you don’t play good on the last one, you can end up with a really bad finish.
“You could win 15 events, including both playoff events, and you have a two-shot lead,” he continued. “I understand it’s for TV purposes and excitement and just making it more of a winner-take-all, and they give you a two-shot advantage, but over four days that can be gone in two holes.”
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