A FedEx cup alternative

 1^st we must recognize the goals.

 1-Marketing
           Golf is an entertainment business 1^st and foremost.  It’s about making money.

 2-Determining a season long champion, not just a 1 or 4 week winner.

How can we effectively meld these two elements and at the same time give us the excitement of a super bowl or a champion match like we have in baseball and basketball?

The problem with the current setup is that the winner of the final event is not necessarily the winner of the playoff.  We need to set things up so we can really find a true champion and have it come down to the final event!

Here’s my solution:

We use the current setup for determining the season standings.  No need for any changes here.  This gives us a seeding based on the entire season.

We will take a 1 or 2 week break before the start of the playoffs.

The 1^st 3 events will be Match Play.  This is the key insight.  The top 32 seeded players make it to the playoffs.

The 1^st tournament will seed the players in standard fashion (1 vs 32, 2 vs 31..etc).  On Friday the 16 winners play each other as do the 16 losers.  On Saturday the 8 two time winners play each other, the 8 two time losers play each other and the 16 players that are 1-1 play each other in standard seed fashion (highest vs lowest etc).  therefore on Sunday there will be 4 that are 3-0 and 4 that are 0-3. the 4 that are 3-0 get Sunday off and move on to tourney #2. The 4 that are 0-3 are out of the playoffs.  The 12 that are 2-1 play each other as do the 12 that are 1-2 in standard seeded fashion.  The 6 that win of the top(2-1) group move on to tourney #2.  The 6 losers in the lower group (now 1-3) are out of the playoffs.  Of the 12 remaining players (all 2-2)  the 6 highest in the end of season standings move on and the lower 6 are out.

Now we have 16 (4+6+6) players who qualified for the 2^nd tournament. 

Tourney #2 is again match play and is run analogous to the 1^st with 16 players instead of 32.

On Friday the 8 winners play each other as do the 8 losers….

On Saturday the 4 ….

On Sunday this leaves us with 2 that are 3-0 (they move on to #3 and get Sunday off) and 2 that are 0-2 that are out.  The 6 that are 2-1 play each other as do the 6 that are 1-2.  The 3 that are 3-1 move on and the 3 that are 1-3 are out.  Of the 6 that are 2-2 the top 3 move on.  This gives us 2+3+3 = 8 that move on to #3.

Tourney #3 is analogous to #1 and #2 except with only 8 players:

On Sunday 1 player will be 3-0(he’s in #4) and 1 will be 0-3(he’s out).

The 3-1s move on(there will be 1 or 2).  The 1-3s are out and top 2-2s to make the total moving on to the final tournament 4.

Tourney #4 has 4 players who will now play a standard 4 round stroke event.

This assures us that the winner of the last event will be the playoff winner as in football, basketball, etc.  The fans want this and its great for the marketing/sponsors also.  It assures  that no one skips any tourneys and virtually assures that the top players will be in the final event.  But as in all other sports the underdog has a chance!  End up 3-1 are better in match play and u move on.  And even if your 2-2 you will move on is your season play was superior to your other 2-2 opponents.  A top player can’t get knocked out with a single upset.  And the very top players can’t be eliminated even if they’re 2-2.  and if they deliver a 1-3 performance then they are out, as they should be.  And everyone that delivers a 4-0 or 3-1 will move on.  The players that are 3-0 get Sundays off (4 at #1, 2 at #2 and 1 at #3).  This format greatly increases the chance that the best player will be the champion.