Matt Fitzpatrick sits second in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the BMW Championship. But that didn’t stop him from questioning the format he’s chasing. Asked in his pre-tournament press conference how different this year feels now that he’s already through the Tour Championship, the Englishman used the moment to lay out why he thinks golf’s playoff system doesn’t really work.
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Fitzpatrick started by acknowledging the size of the idea. Playoffs matter hugely in American sports, he said, but golf’s format makes it hard to copy that model.
“I’ve said it a lot, like the example. Well, yeah, I’ve said it a lot about the playoffs. I understand the playoffs in the U.S. are a very big thing in other sports, and it’s obviously hard to do that with golf because of the format of golf,” he said speaking to the media
“I do feel like it is a bit weird, as Rory has already pointed out. It’s kind of like, yeah, you just need to be top 50. You can kind of get yourself settled even before last week. So it is really weird, but I don’t have the answer to what that is other than from someone who is English: Do we really need playoffs in golf? Like, it’s just not really a thing in the UK.”
For Fitzpatrick, the issue is how one week can outweigh an entire season. He pointed to Collin Morikawa, who was third in the standings entering the 2024 playoffs on the back of a major win. Yet he finished 25th after three poor weeks and missed out on the bonus money that should have matched his year.
Moreover, Fitzpatrick isn’t alone in flagging the format’s flaws. A few weeks earlier, Rory McIlroy made a similar point, explaining why the top 30 already going to the Tour Championship get a free pass through the first two playoffs. “As long as I am in the top 30 going to the Tour Championship, I have a chance. So why would I care about the first two?”
His opinion, much like Fitzpatrick’s, became a point of conversation. But it’s the same complaint from opposite angles. Fitzpatrick worries about good players getting punished on a few bad weeks. McIlroy describes how comfortable it can be for some players.
Talking about the current system, the FedEx Cup has served two season finales since 2007. The points formula has been recalibrated repeatedly to limit exactly the kind of one-week swing Fitzpatrick describes.
Winners of the FedEx St. Jude Championship and BMW Championship now collect 750 points each, the same tier as a major or Players Championship win. That is down sharply from the 2,000-point playoff, where winners earned as recently as last year. Moreover, the 70-man field is cut to 50 as the opener and 30 for the Tour Championship.
Those changes reflected outcomes on paper. Jon Rahm led the standings after the 2023 Wyndham Championship before a poor finish at East Lake left him at bay. It was a sign the tour had moved towards protecting a strong season rather than punishing one bad week. The opposite scenario is possible too.
Tommy Fleetwood, for instance, won last year’s Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup without a single regular-season victory. For now, the current points surviving past 2027 remains a point of discussion.