Jon Rahm speaks to the media ahead of the Tour Championship on August 22, 2023. | Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Rahm spoke with the media ahead of the Tour Championship. In doing so, he revealed his distaste for the tournament’s format.
ATLANTA — Jon Rahm is never shy of expressing his opinion, nor is he afraid of being brutally honest.
He did just that Tuesday at East Lake Golf Club, where he expressed his displeasure with the format of the Tour Championship.
“I don’t think it’s the best [format] we can come up with,” Rahm admitted. “I think I’ve expressed my dislike towards the fact that you can come in ranked No. 1 in the FedExCup. You can win every single tournament up until this one. You have a bad week, you finish 30th, and now you’ll forever be known as 30th in the FedExCup that season.
“I don’t think that’s very fair.”
The Tour Championship adopted a ‘handicapped’ format in 2019. The number one ranked player in the FedEx Cup standings begins their opening round at 10-under, whereas those ranked from 26th to 30th start the tournament at even par.
This week, Scottie Scheffler will start at 10-under, with Viktor Hovland ranked second fresh off his electric win at the BMW Championship, beginning at 8-under.
Rahm, who sits fourth in the standings, will start Thursday’s round at 6-under.
“When you’re in fifth place, you are, what, 5-under, so you’re five shots from the lead,” Rahm added. “But you’re also five shots from 30th place. So that, to me, doesn’t make much sense.”
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Jon Rahm during the third round of the 2023 BMW Championship.
The 2023 Masters Champion also said he liked the old format better, which was predicated on year-long statistics and probability, as opposed to the current format.
“If you come in as No. 1, you really rarely ever fell out of the top 3,” Rahm said of the old system. “I thought that was a little bit better. And I know the people that are good with numbers and statistics and all this and that, and probability, they ran the numbers, and I know they say this. Basically, this format comes out to the same.”
“I don’t think it’s the best, but it is the easiest to understand, right? So if you ask me, I think we can come up with something better.”
Perhaps a better format will emerge in the coming years, and Rahm will have a say in how the Tour Championship is played.
After all, according to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, the players have never had more of a voice than they do now.
“Players want to continue to enhance their voice and representation within our governance,” Monahan said Tuesday in Atlanta. “I believe, when you look across sport, our athletes are more invested and engaged in the PGA Tour than athletes are in any other league, and I think that bodes very well for us as we move forward.”
Changes to the Tour Championship are not on the horizon.
But if Rahm and others continue to voice their disdain, perhaps the format at East Lake will be different next year.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
