CASTLE ROCK, Colorado – The “silly” idea that Scottie Scheffler could have won two playoff events after a dominant season and still not win the FedEx Cup is nothing new.

Fifteen years ago, Tiger Woods decided to play in the postseason opener for the first time, giving him a huge boost in the third edition of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. It wasn’t until the Pro-Am at Liberty National that he realized that if he didn’t have a good week at East Lake, he could win every playoff event and still lose the season title.

Woods was more diplomatic about the scoring system in his press conference – “It’s different, there’s no doubt about that,” he said – than when he spoke about it away from the microphones on the golf course.

But it had a happy ending for him. Woods won the BMW Championship, finished second at the Tour Championship behind Phil Mickelson (number 14) and won the FedEx Cup.

The system has been optimized since then, but the philosophy remains the same.

They say: choose your poison.

The PGA Tour could keep points in reserve all season and risk having no suspense in the final event, even if more importance is given to the playoff events. Or it could be decided in the final week, with many possibilities.

Scheffler would fall into the first category, much like Woods did in 2009. Not only does he have six wins – the Masters, the Players Championship and four signature events – he has only finished outside the top 10 twice this year.

Despite all this, it still comes down to East Lake.

“I think that’s silly. You can’t call it a season race and then turn it into a tournament,” Scheffler said last week.

This was not a new insight, from Scheffler or anyone else. Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay have expressed the same thing in recent years, followed by the standard, “It is what it is.”

Scheffler’s choice of the word “silly” easily grabbed headlines, but he also acknowledged that in a different format, someone could have the FedEx Cup in the bag before the Tour Championship.

“That’s not good either,” he said. “For me it would be great, but those are not the rules.”

The rules allow for a grand finale. That would be someone like Billy Horschel, for example, who didn’t take part in a single tournament in 2014, but really turned it on in August, winning the last two events and taking the FedEx Cup.

Dramatic stuff, sure. But the best year belonged to Rory McIlroy.

This is not about the new stroke differential system that has been in place since 2019. The top seed starts the Tour Championship at 10 under par and two strokes ahead, while the players who just make it to East Lake start 10 strokes behind. This is no different than when the points were reset; the odds are about the same.

It still comes down to a week.

What gets lost is the understanding of what the FedEx Cup is and always has been – a bonus competition at the end of the year that offers the best fields and great tournaments. And it is also well endowed, with prize money now up to 25 million dollars.

That’s important for the players. It’s meaningful. But it doesn’t define a great season. Scheffler’s year won’t be judged any less by watching someone else cash in at East Lake – Viktor Hovland last year, McIlroy the year before that.

The Tour tried to make amends by creating the Comcast Business Top 10 as the regular season reward. Scheffler won by a landslide, earning an $8 million bonus. But no one ever talks about who won that title.

One solution could be a computer formula that determines a player’s lead before the Tour Championship, reflecting the player’s performance. Scheffler, for example, could start the Tour Championship with a four-stroke lead after a season like this one.

On the other hand, Scheffler had a six-stroke lead going into the final round in 2022 and still couldn’t win. McIlroy won his third FedEx Cup title this year. McIlroy has never won a FedEx Cup from pole position.

As you can imagine, he has no problems with the system. McIlroy is not entirely selfish.

“I think it makes the Tour Championship more exciting from a consumer perspective,” he said. “Is it the fairest reflection of who the best player of the year was? Probably not. But I think at this point we’re not concerned with complete fairness, we’re concerned with entertainment and providing the best product possible.”

If there is one thing that deserves closer scrutiny, it is the schedule.

McIlroy, seeded No. 3 at the start of the playoffs, finished second to last at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational last week. The heat was oppressive, and McIlroy played tennis after his first round. So much for conserving energy during the playoffs.

His tied 68th in a field of 70 put him at No. 5 overall. Don’t be surprised if McIlroy or another top seed skips the first playoff event next year, since it means so little to them in the bigger picture.

Changing the opening event would help. Of course, there is the issue of the large building next to the fifth hole at TPC Southwind – the headquarters of FedEx. That is a big bill that FedEx is footing. The tour is no longer in New York or Boston. That should be taken into account.

A few years ago, there was talk of rotating the Tour Championship and using East Lake as an anchor spot every other year. But now, with the FedEx Cup in its 18th year, players say they want to be at East Lake at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, no system is perfect. And no practical solutions have been presented. The only “stupid” thing about the FedEx Cup is the amount of money at stake.

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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf