Fact or Fiction: The Tour Championship’s Format Needs to Be Revamped

SI Golf’s writers and editors debate the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup title chase and an unusual ruling on a cracked driver.

Scottie Scheffler, pictured last week at the BMW Championship, will get a two-shot advantage in the Tour Championship as a reward for a dominant season. / Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where two screens are now in effect in our living rooms for golf and football.

Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.

Even after the boosted points of the first two FedEx Cup playoff events, Scottie Scheffler leads by nearly 1,100 points over Xander Schauffele and 2,700 over third-place Hideki Matsuyama. He also has more than double the points of fourth-place Keegan Bradley. The "starting strokes” format of the finale should be based off these disparities—Scheffler deserves more than a two-shot head start. 

Bob Harig: FICTION. In a perfect world—one not led by the need to skew things for the sake of entertainment—there wouldn’t be a points boost or a need to reset. You’d simply play it out and the person with the most points wins. But that is not how the FedEx Cup works. And Billy Horschel’s NFL analogy from a few days ago fits. He cited the 2007 undefeated New England Patriots Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants, who got into the playoffs as a wildcard team. New England got no discernable advantage when the Super Bowl game was played. It’s sort of what Scheffler is now dealing with.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. (Clears throat) It appears it’s time once again for my annual plea on how to best reform the Tour Championship: they should have all 30 players do two rounds of stroke play, then have the top 16 advance to match play. At that point, just give the top couple seeds a first-round bye in the matches and, voilà, you’ve honored their regular seasons while still creating suspense for who ultimately lifts the Cup with head-to-head knockout matches.

John Schwarb: FACT. Scheffler could fail to win the FedEx Cup for a third straight year after leading going into the finale—would that not be a little ridiculous? His domination of the regular season should earn a bigger cushion for the finale, where it should then take a massive effort to beat him. I’d also sign up for Jeff’s idea. 

Speaking of Matsuyama, he withdrew after the first round of the BMW with lower back pain. Injuries are part of sports and sometimes come at bad times—due to that withdrawal, Matsuyama shouldn’t be allowed to play the Tour Championship.

Bob Harig: FICTION. The system allows you to move on without playing and the Tour is careful not to force anyone to compete. I’m surprised more guys who have their place at the Tour Championship locked up don’t skip one of the first two events. It’s a difficult slog this time of year, and two venues where there is extreme heat (Memphis and Atlanta) and another (Colorado) where elevation changes make for a tough walk. Matsuyama earned his spot.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. Matsuyama won a playoff event, and in a points-based system that should weigh heavily. He deserves a spot at East Lake.

John Schwarb: FACT. Remember in earlier iterations of the FedEx Cup when points leaders could skip a tournament yet still win, and how silly that was? Don’t love the thought of Matsuyama possibly winning it all while missing last week. I know injuries are different than absences and Matsuyama gave it a go at the BMW, but these playoffs—which continue to struggle for legitimacy—must require full participation the entire way.

Lydia Ko won the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews, two weeks after winning Olympic gold. She’s the LPGA Player of the Year right now, despite Nelly Korda’s six wins with one major earlier this season.

Bob Harig: FICTION. It’s 1 to 1 in majors between the two players and Korda has won double the amount of tournaments, which includes Ko’s Olympic victory—which is not a major. This is an easy one unless there is some late flurry of victories for Ko.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. Ko is certainly the hottest player on Tour, and arguably in all of pro golf, but you can’t overlook six wins from Korda. She’s still POY … but Ko is closing fast.

John Schwarb: FICTION. It’s Korda right now but Ko is indeed closing fast and one more win or two, maybe the CME Group Tour Championship, could do it assuming Korda doesn’t win again. Plus, as great as Nelly was earlier in the season, it’s hard to not think of these recent ones that got away. 

Sunday at the BMW, Matt Fitzpatrick cracked the face of his driver but was not allowed to replace it as PGA Tour rules officials said the driver was not “significantly damaged” though the crack was visible. Fitzpatrick was furious, calling the ruling “outrageous,” and he’s right. 

Bob Harig: FACT. There is a reason it was handled this way due to the nature of club design and pushing the envelope of what is legal. The rules makers thus hold a high standard for a damaged club. But common sense should prevail. The club was cracked. Fitzpatrick didn’t feel he could use it. That should be the standard.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. Bob’s right: once an official agrees that a club is cracked, that should suffice and the player should be allowed to replace it. I’m sure Fitzpatrick suffered a psychological effect, just knowing his driver was damaged, in addition to a decline in actual performance from the faulty gear. Not a great look for Tour rules. 

John Schwarb: FACT. This was a huge whiff by Tour officials. The honor system is in play so often but players aren’t trusted to know when a driver isn’t fit for play with a visible crack? Fitz hit one more shot with it almost to prove a point, missing the fairway left—what if the club had broken apart and someone was hurt after officials deemed it “not that damaged”? I know that’s a leap from a small crack, but I don’t see a gray area here.