Here’s What’s Wrong With The PGA Tour Playoffs

Here’s what’s wrong with the FedEx Cup playoffs: Of the 124 players who made the playoffs, 87 will move on to the second round regardless of their finish this week. That’s not so much a playoff as a procession.

Of course, there’ll be some jockeying for position. A higher finish puts a player in better position for the event two weeks from now. Players outside the ten or so need to finish high to have a chance, points wise to win the big prize.

There also are some big name players on the outside looking in. But there’s just not enough uncertainty. I think it’s uncertainty that makes playoffs in other sports so potent. Once the playoffs begin in football and baseball, any team could make a run.

With the FedEx Cup, it’s already possible to project who will be in the Top 30. According to the PGA Tour website, Nick Watney, Steve Stricker, Webb Simpson, Luke Donald, Keegan Bradley, Phil Mickelson, K.J. Choi, and Bubba Watson are locks. That’s like saying that the Pittsburgh Steelers are automatically in the playoffs—regardless of what they do—and the other teams are playing for the remaining spot.

I’d like to see a fifty percent attrition rate in each round of the playoffs—and a point system geared to ensure that only the top ten automatically move on to the next round. Further, we shouldn’t know who’ll be in the final field until the week before.

For the curious, a chart of which players automatically progress—and how high the others have to finish to move on—follows:

Rank	Player	To Play Next Week
1	Nick Watney	Locked
2	Steve Stricker	Locked
3	Webb Simpson	Locked
4	Luke Donald	Locked
5	Keegan Bradley	Locked
6	Phil Mickelson	Locked
7	K.J. Choi	Locked
8	Bubba Watson	Locked
9	David Toms	Locked
10	Gary Woodland	Locked
11	Mark Wilson	Locked
12	Matt Kuchar	Locked
13	Adam Scott	Locked
14	Jason Day	Locked
15	Bill Haas	Locked
16	Fredrik Jacobson	Locked
17	Martin Laird	Locked
18	Brandt Snedeker	Locked
19	Dustin Johnson	Locked
20	Hunter Mahan	Locked
22	Aaron Baddeley	Locked
23	Rory Sabbatini	Locked
24	Jonathan Byrd	Locked
25	Jason Dufner	Locked
26	Charles Howell III	Locked
27	D.A. Points	Locked
28	Rickie Fowler	Locked
29	Spencer Levin	Locked
30	Tommy Gainey	Locked
31	Scott Stallings	Locked
32	Zach Johnson	Locked
33	Chris Kirk	Locked
34	Steve Marino	Locked
35	Jhonattan Vegas	Locked
36	Vijay Singh	Locked
37	Ryan Palmer	Locked
38	Ryan Moore	Locked
39	Bo Van Pelt	Locked
40	Lucas Glover	Locked
41	Brendan Steele	Locked
42	Brandt Jobe	Locked
43	Y.E. Yang	Locked
44	Justin Rose	Locked
45	Robert Karlsson	Locked
46	Brendon de Jonge	Locked
47	Kevin Na	Locked
48	Kyle Stanley	Locked
49	Charley Hoffman	Locked
50	John Senden	Locked
51	Sean O’Hair	Locked
52	Pat Perez	Locked
53	Robert Garrigus	Locked
54	George McNeill	Locked
55	Carl Pettersson	Locked
56	Brian Gay	Locked
57	Brian Davis	Locked
58	Robert Allenby	Locked
59	Sergio Garcia	Locked
60	Jim Furyk	Locked
61	Harrison Frazar	Locked
62	Andres Romero	Locked
63	Jerry Kelly	Locked
64	Cameron Tringale	Locked
65	Kris Blanks	Locked
67	Blake Adams	Locked
68	Jimmy Walker	Locked
69	Jeff Overton	Locked
70	John Rollins	Locked
71	Kevin Streelman	Locked
72	J.J. Henry	Locked
73	Charlie Wi	Locked
74	Chad Campbell	Locked
75	Scott Verplank	Locked
76	Chez Reavie	Locked
77	Johnson Wagner	Locked
78	Chris Couch	Locked
79	Geoff Ogilvy	Locked
80	Scott Piercy	Locked
81	Davis Love III	Locked
82	Stewart Cink	Locked
83	Ricky Barnes	Locked
84	Troy Matteson	Locked
85	Ryuji Imada	Locked
86	Ben Crane	Locked
87	Marc Leishman	Locked
88	Kevin Chappell	70
89	Hunter Haas	69
90	Chris DiMarco	69
91	Bryce Molder	68
92	Anthony Kim	67
93	Graeme McDowell	67
94	Paul Goydos	64
95	Trevor Immelman	63
96	Nick O’Hern	62
97	Matt Bettencourt	62
98	Tim Herron	61
99	Michael Bradley	60
100	Greg Chalmers	60
101	Retief Goosen	57
102	Tom Gillis	56
103	Bill Lunde	55
104	John Merrick	53
105	Kevin Stadler	52
106	Chris Stroud	52
107	Michael Thompson	52
108	Vaughn Taylor	49
109	Camilo Villegas	49
110	Josh Teater	48
111	D.J. Trahan	48
112	Heath Slocum	47
113	Stuart Appleby	47
114	Ian Poulter	47
115	Rod Pampling	47
116	Joe Ogilvie	42
117	David Hearn	42
118	Ernie Els	41
119	Billy Mayfair	40
120	James Driscoll	40
121	Steve Flesch	40
122	Steven Bowditch	39
123	Arjun Atwal	37
124	Padraig Harrington	37
125	William McGirt	36