DJ Wins the TOUR Championship…That Isn’t

Can we just finally admit to ourselves that the current TOUR Championship format is absolutely hot garbage?

Dustin Johnson went wire-to-wire to win The TOUR Championship on Monday, finishing four days of guaranteed payday work with a -21 at East Lake. His win cemented his OWGR number 1 ranking and also paid him enough money to literally take a few years off if he so desired.

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Under the rules of the current game, DJ is the winner. I won’t begrudge him for the win because like the Electoral College if you win the way the rules are set, then you win.

I’ll also say I think The TOUR Championship’s rules and brownie points on the leaderboard are just as big of a dumpster fire as the Electoral College because they don’t adequately reward the true reality.

For some reason the PGA Tour felt it would be unfair for the person to win The TOUR Championship and not take home the FedEx Cup, which has happened four times since the playoffs inception in 2007. While I can kind of, sort of see what they were trying to accomplish, all the PGA Tour did in my opinion was develop a participation bonus. 

Also, if we really look at who the winner of the finale event at East Lake was in using a traditional golf tournament setup, the winner on Monday would not have been Dustin Johnson. 

After battling almost year around to get to a title competition and have players scores arbitrarily inflated does not really determine who the best is, nor does it say this champion showed why they were the best that week in the finale. 

Almost every other sport has figured out a way to take the statistically best of the best, put them in a tournament, and see who comes out on top as the champion. So why can’t the PGA Tour?

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Actually, they can, and they should. Here’s my proposal on going from dumpster fire to determining a true champion, and it follows what the NCAA basketball tournament has done:

The Top 32 in the FedEx Cup race enter the TOUR Championship week seeded by their points. DJ would’ve been 1st seed, and down the line to 32nd position.

The tournament moves from stroke play to one-and-done match play. Number 1 plays number 32, number 2 against 31, number 16 versus the 17th seed, and so forth. Two matches on day one, and one each for the final three days. Reseed based on who’s still the tournament based on top seed down and keep driving the lowest seed to play them.

By the time the last putt is rolled on Sunday (or Monday), you have the player who ran the gauntlet, winning 5 matches against some of the best the Tour could offer for that weekend.

This makes so much sense and it’s also why the PGA Tour probably won’t go for it. Why? Ratings.

Yes, ratings. The PGA Tour wants the DJ’s, the Rory’s, the JT’s and such on the final day all running for the championship. It’s great for ratings. But the bonus points style of the current system is a wreck for the game and doesn’t award the true winner. 

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And let’s face it, seeing DJ, Rory, JT, etc. on the final day is going to be a hell of a lot more sexy than seeing Sebastian Munoz taking on Ryan Palmer if those two clawed their way through several days of match play, but this system would legitimately determine a real annual Tour Champion.

So, does the PGA Tour want celebrity or legitimacy? I’m not taking away from his year, but Dustin Johnson didn’t win at East Lake on Sunday, and to me this current system is more hollow than the trustworthiness of a politician’s promises. I doubt I really can be sold on either as is.

Cover Image Via PGA TOUR Media