“I think it’s silly.” – said a dissatisfied Scottie Scheffler back in August. What could he have been possibly referring to? The current World No. 1 had voiced his complaint against his fate coming down to one tournament despite the dominant run he had the whole year. However, many including Rory McIlroy did disagree with him. And now, it seems the golfer’s $62 million run (Read as Scheffler’s earnings) despite the unfavorable situation he found himself in at the TOUR Championship seems to be in the crosshairs again. But this time, it’s all thanks to none other than Padraig Harrington.
The golfer was spotted talking to the media ahead of the PGA Tour Champions season-ending finale on November 6. “There’s nothing left to chance this week, so it really does feel like the big final event of the year,” said the senior pro after expressing his excitement at being able to play at the Phoenix Country Club. “Obviously this year with so many people in contention, they’ve certainly got the system right with 10 guys having the ability to win this week.” Interestingly, a total of 36 senior professionals including Harrington will tee off at the event on November 7, Thursday.
“The playoff system looks like they know what they’re doing,” added the 53-year-old athlete before going ahead to give his set of approval to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship format. Unlike Scottie Scheffler, he didn’t seem to be taking a jab at the Playoffs format. “We always question these playoffs and things, but I think out here on the Champions Tour if you play well enough during the year, you can get yourself a great lead coming into this. You get rewarded for that.”
Sounds familiar? Yes, just like Els seems to be in a similar situation as that of Scottie Scheffler, just that there’s an option of him becoming the Charles Schwab Cup winner even if he loses the event. Anyhow, it seems like it’s going to be quite an exciting weekend that the PGA Tour Champions have in store this week for the fans. But that just leaves us curious about one thing; why did Scheffler think the PGA Tour season finale was ‘silly’ in the first place?
Scottie Scheffler calls out the ‘season-long race’
“You can’t call it a season-long race,” said the 2024 Masters champ, “And have it come down to one tournament.” Either don’t call it as such, or make it a season-long race, which is what Scheffler wants the PGA Tour to do. He even added an example to serve his point; “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.”
Well, can’t disagree with the golfer on that, to be honest, since the Jay Monahan-led circuit kind of hits the reset point when it comes to the FedEx Cup points when it reaches the TOUR Championship. And all of it boils down to how well the golfer finishes with the help of the ‘Starting Strokes Format’. Remember that? The top points earner gets a 10-stroke advantage while the second starts the final at 8-under, and so forth.
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