“I wouldn’t say it is the best format to identify the best golfer for the year.”  These were the words of the world’s No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, when asked if winning the FedEx Cup playoffs was his goal. Not long ago, the FedEx playoffs saw some changes in its workings. In 2019, they reduced the number of tournaments from four to three. Then they reduced the number of players that went to the playoffs. Initially, it was in the top 125.

Now only the top 70 can make the cut, a decision that wasn’t received well by many pros, and Scheffler seems to be one of them. Throughout the season, the players are awarded FedEx Cup points for the PGA Tour events they take part in. Now, right ahead of the St. Jude Championship, Scheffler shared his thoughts on the PGA Tour’s schedule as a ‘season-long race.’

NUCLR Golf recently took to their official X account and shared what Scottie Scheffler had to say about the Jay Monahan league format. He said, “I think it’s silly. You can’t call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament.” At the end of the season, the win at the Tour Championship significantly impacts the POY decision, which can also undermine a golfer’s year-long performance.

Scheffler further explained the crucial position of the Tour Championship with an example: “Hypothetically we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn’t heal the way it did at The Players, I finish 30th in the FedExCup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament. Is that the season-long race? No. It is what it is.” He even added that it was just a balance between managing the TRP and making it a season-long race, rather than simply focusing on identifying the best golfer of the season.

“You can’t quite call it the season-long race when it comes down to a stroke play tournament on the same golf course each year,” he concluded. The LIV Golf league, on the other hand, has 14 events with two titles at stake: the Individual Championship and the Team Championship. 54 players are divided into thirteen groups, and although the players play in teams, they also compete for individual wins at the same time.

The top 24 players at every event earn points on the leaderboard. The player who gets the most points at the end of the season wins the individual title. Furthermore, at the end of the season, a team championship is also decided in a knockout format. This is a picture of match play and stroke play. Each team builds up a cumulative score, ultimately deciding who wins. Does that mean that the format of the breakaway league is preferred more by the golf community?

The golf community was left in splits with Scottie Scheffler’s comment

Earlier, in an interview right after the practice round of the St. Jude Championship, even Patrick Cantlay stated that everything can completely change in the final three weeks. Scottie Scheffler has been playing so well throughout the season. But if he fails to grab the trophy at the Tour Championship, all of it might go in vain.

Taking to this, the people pointed out how Scheffler was right when he dismissed calling the PGA Schedule a year-long race. They left comments like, “The PGA won’t like it but he’s right” and “He is absolutely spot on in fairness”.

Scottie Scheffler has had one of the best seasons so far. He not only managed to win six championships in the season but also landed in the top 10 14 times out of the 16 events he played on the Tour. However, it is only if he makes it to the field of the top 30 players at the Tour Championship in East Lake, that he will be recognized as the best.

Scottie Scheffler’s candid approach impressed one netizen, who, much like the two-time Masters Champ, shared their thoughts,  “I just love he said what he thought.”

The whole FedEx Cup format inevitably draws comparisons to the LIV Golf format, where the LIV Pros enjoy a cumulative format where they get enough rest, having to play only fourteen events in a season.

While most of them stood in support of Scottie Scheffler’s views on the PGA Tour format, there were a few that dubbed it just as an excuse and made fun of his statements. LIV Golf does not get any OWGR or FedEx points, except for winning the major championships. They only get LIV points and the prize money, and after a season-long performance, the LIV player of the year is titled, just like Bryson DeChambeau was last year.

Taking to this, one of them, pretty much humorously wrote, “So he’s saying it should be like LIV and a league-type season, where results accumulate 😂🤣”.

Despite Scottie Scheffler’s dominant run in the past three years, he has been unable to win the FedEx Cup playoffs. In 2022 and 2023, as he entered the Tour Championship with the lead at East Lake, each year at 10-under, with a two-stroke advantage over the other 29 players, he has failed to be able to do the job so far. Rory McIlroy took the trophy in 2022, and Viktor Hovland took it last year.

Scheffler has found it rather difficult to win in Atlanta. Taking to this, people simply calling it an excuse left comments like, “I’d say the same thing if I’ve never won it…. Just go out and win it” and “Maybe that’s his opinion because he’s choked at East Lake”.

What are your thoughts about the FedEx Cup and PGA Tour formats? Do you agree with what Scottie Scheffler has to say? Let us know in the comments section below!