5 things golf fans still have to look forward to the rest of 2019

PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 19: Tiger Woods of the United States tees off the 2nd during the second round of the 148th Open Championship held on the Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 19, 2019 in Portrush, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images) /

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ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 20: The FedEx Cup Trophy during the first round of the PGA Tour Championship on September 20, 2018, at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

3. Changes to the FedEx Cup

The FedEx Cup will have a drastically different look this year.

Gone are the four events that culminated in the crowning of a season-long champion. Instead, starting with this season, the number of tournaments has been reduced to three. The FedEx Cup begins with the Northern Trust on Aug. 8 and continues with the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship. The entire playoffs will be done by Aug. 25, serving the PGA Tour’s goal of ending before the start of the NFL season.

The PGA Tour has also gone with simplicity this year. The top 30 players will still qualify for the Tour Championship at East Lake, but they won’t all start on an equal footing. Instead, the FedEx Cup points leader will begin the tournament at 10-under. Second place will be at eight-under, third at seven-under, all the way down to 30th place who starts at even-par and facing a 10-shot deficit before a shot is struck.

The change in format not only makes the playoffs easier to follow for golf fans, it also prevents the situation where the player who wins the Tour Championship doesn’t win the FedEx Cup. That’s happened the past two years. In 2017, Justin Thomas won the FedEx Cup while Xander Schauffele won at East Lake. Again, in 2018, Tiger Woods won the tournament but Justin Rose walked away with the $10 million FedEx Cup first prize.

It’s certainly different and unique, an attempt to instill some excitement in an event that had gone stale. Whether or not it works, however, is still to be determined.

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