JERSEY CITY, NJ: Jon Rahm has competed in the FedEx Cup playoffs of the PGA Tour enough times to know how the system works.
And he doesn’t like it.
“I don’t think it’s fair,” Rahm said Friday after a 67-under pair gave him a 36-hole shot advantage at The Northern Trust, the first of three playoff events concluding in two weeks at the Championship Tour.
Rahm, ranked No. 1 in the world, ranks fifth in the FedEx Cup and would go to first place if he won the tournament. Another win next week at the BMW Championship would make him an overwhelming FedEx Cup leader.
But it would only give him a small advantage the following week in Atlanta, when the top 30 players are restored according to their points position. The top player starts at 10 minors, while the next player has 8 minors, with several breakdowns up to the bottom five players starting at the pair.
The system, in its third year, reflects what would have been a points distribution and allows for a Tour Championship and FedEx Cup winner. Previously, the Tour Championship had a winner with the chance to win the FedEx Cup separately.
“I don’t like it at all,” said Rahm, who has played 36 holes without a bogey at Liberty National. “No. I think you have the playoffs in them, and if you win the first two and if you don’t play well in the last … you can end up with a very bad end.
“I don’t like it. I understand the system. And the way one of the PGA Tour officials told me, [if] I’m a Patriots fan and the Patriots win everything to get to the Super Bowl and they don’t win the Super Bowl, you don’t win the Lombardi Trophy, right?
“My response was that they still finished second. They have to understand that golf is different.”
Rahm, who is from Spain and attended the state of Arizona, has a good understanding of football or American sports in general. The team with the best record does not get big advantages over its opponent in the playoffs, apart from the home field.
Up to Rahm’s point, a golfer could win all tournaments all year round and still have only a 2-time lead in the Tour Championship.
The tour has tried to balance with some volatility during its playoff events, while rewarding players for a strong season. Collin Morikawa, for example, missed the cut at The Northern Trust. Ranked No. 1 in FedEx points, the winner of the open championship is expected to drop to No. 6.
But he will easily qualify for both the BMW Championship and the Tour, regardless of his results. In a real playoff, it could be over, but the tour wants those who have strong years to be in Atlanta.
“I understand it’s for television and the excitement and it just makes you a winner of all, and they give you a two-shot advantage, but in four days you can leave it in two holes,” Rahm said. “I don’t know which system is the best. I like going to East Lake with this new one in the sense of knowing where it is and what it has to do. In previous years, there were so many different combinations than it could. It was hard to get that. the head focused on one thing.
“But I don’t think it’s a fair system in that sense right now, but it’s what we have and that’s what we have to deal with.”