The PGA Tour’s 2021-2022 wraparound season concluded last Sunday evening at the East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta. With an $18 million first-place prize going to the winner as well as graduated paychecks all the way down to a $500,000 bank deposit to the last-place golfer, it served as the game’s most obvious money grab for the top 30 ranked golfers on the Fed Ex Cup points list. When the dust finally settled in a most entertaining finale, the big winners from last week were Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.
There is very little that is natural about a golf playoff system, especially when one considers that the difference between the top professional golfer on tour and the 50th-ranked linkster is mathematically less than one stroke per round. The road to the Super Bowl, the World Series and the NBA title makes sense to the common sports fan. Win and advance. Since they first began in 2007, the Fed Ex Cup playoffs have been nothing short of a head-scratcher. There were years when Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh had great seasons and then went on to win two of the four playoff events. Those playoffs were no-brainers. Yet fans of the game recall the 2011 playoffs when Bill Haas made a dramatic up and down in a sudden-death playoff from the muddy bank to win the Tour Championship. Then all of us had to wait 30 minutes while the number crunchers finally figured out that Haas had actually captured the season-long title.
In 2018 Tiger Woods made a stirring career comeback by winning the Tour Championship. In one of golf’s more iconic moments, the gallery overflowed onto the 18th fairway and surrounded the green as Tiger and Rory putted out. Going into the back nine, Tiger had the Fed Ex Cup points lead. However, Englishman Justin Rose made a birdie coming down the stretch, finished tied for fourth place, and ended up barely finishing ahead of Woods in the Fed Ex Cup points race. Yes, Tiger won the Tour Championship but Rose had accumulated more Fed Ex Cup points. Rose did have an outstanding season, finishing second at the British Open and coming in second in two of the four playoff tournaments, yet it all seemed so very hollow.
The number crunchers came up with a new theme the following year with the concept of the staggered start. Similar to the USGA handicap system, the higher ranked golfers would start the Tour Championship with a lead. Beginning in 2019, the No. 1-ranked golfer would start the Tour Championship at 10-under-par, number two would be at 8-under-par and so on and so on with the 30th golfer in points not only starting at even par, but finding himself 10 shots off the pace with 72 holes to play. This method makes perfect sense in the weekend golf match between the 10-handicapper and his friend who carries a 15 handicap and gets five strokes. As earlier mentioned, the difference between top 30 golfers is infinitesimal. It was easier to understand, but then again it was harder to fathom. A tournament within a tournament.
We are now in year four of the staggered start system. Rory started the playoffs in first place and romped to a four-stroke victory in the 2019 Tour Championship. That made him the Fed Ex Cup titlist without any doubt. Dustin Johnson prevailed in 2020, winning two playoff tourneys. Patrick Cantlay prevailed last year with two wins in the three playoff tournaments. It didn’t matter that someone like Xander Schauffele might shoot a lower score over 72 holes at East Lake. Cantlay started at 10-under-par, picked up 11 strokes against par, and won by one stroke while finishing at 21-under-par.
This year there was the saga of Rory and his race to the top of the Fed Ex Cup standings. He started on Thursday morning at 4-under-par, meaning that he was six strokes behind the No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler had a great late winter and early spring surge, winning at Phoenix, Bay Hill, the World Match Play and topping it off with his first major win at the Masters. His entire season warranted his ranking at No. 1 and hence he started the Tour Championship ahead of everyone in the field, including Rory McIlroy.
From the McIlroy perspective, it got much worse early on. He made a triple-bogey on the first hole and followed it up with a bogey on the second hole. Before Scheffler could even tee off on Thursday, his lead over Rory had grown to 10 strokes. However, sometimes Rory is the real Rory, which means that he is the most talented golfer on the planet. While the 2021-22 campaign was somewhat of a downer for Rory, it was that way because of his own high expectations. He did win the CJ Cup in Las Vegas in the fall and won a truly entertaining Canadian Open this summer. Yet it was also an empty season on the major championship front with a second-place finish in the Masters, an eighth-place finish in the PGA Championship, a tie for fifth at the United States Open, and a cruel third-place finish in the British Open where he hit every green in regulation and still came up two strokes shy of Australian Cameron Smith.
As we earlier mentioned, Rory was 10 strokes down to Scottie with 70 holes to play. Scheffler’s lead was close to insurmountable, but then again, maybe it wasn’t when you consider the abilities of the most talented golfer of this decade-long era. McIlroy showed true mental toughness when he rebounded from the early hiccups by playing to 7-under-par over his final 16 holes to card a first-round 3-under-par 67. Scheffler shot two better and Rory found himself eight back. The second-round 66 by Scottie was one better than Rory’s 67. Saturday was moving day and McIlroy definitely did, carding an eye popping 7-under-par 63. However, he only picked up three strokes as Scheffler carded another solid 66. Down six.
Perhaps McIlroy got a break by being paired with Scheffler on Sunday. Rory put together a close to flawless 66 to reach 21-under-par for the Tour Championship while Scheffler faltered while posting a 73 to end up one stroke back at 20-under par. Sungjae Im also made it interesting as he too finished one back of Rory with a 20-under-par score.
For the moment, Rory McIlroy is the No. 1 golfer on the PGA Tour. The 2022-23 version of the circuit begins at Napa’s Silverado Resort, running from Sept. 15-18. The Presidents Cup will commence the following week at Quail Hollow in Charlotte. Meanwhile the Saudi Arabian-funded LIV Tour will be hosting five tournaments, playing this weekend in Boston, then moving on to Chicago, Bangkok, Jeddah and Miami. I fear the legal bantering of the coming year, but then again, I know what’s important. The 2021-22 season was most memorable for all of us.
