ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 How to win the FedEx Cup has never been more clear.<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler leads a 30-man field at the Tour Championship<\/a>. They play 72 holes at East Lake and whoever has the lowest score gets $10 million in official prize money, an official victory and world ranking points.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Except for the big boost in prize money, it’s no different from how the Tour Championship was before words like \u201cpoints\u201d and \u201cplayoffs\u201d entered the golf vernacular.<\/p>\n And that’s why the significance of winning the FedEx Cup has never been more confusing.<\/p>\n Scheffler has had the best season<\/a>. He has twice as many FedEx Cup points as Rory McIlroy, twice as many majors (2-1) and two more wins. But now the FedEx Cup \u2014 described by the PGA Tour as a \u201cseason-long points competition\u201d \u2014 comes down to one tournament where everyone starts on equal ground.<\/p>\n Can it be a season-long competition if the winner Sunday hadn’t won a tournament all year?<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, you’re definitely the FedEx Cup champion,\u201d said Patrick Cantlay, who hasn’t won a tournament all year. \u201cI think at this point, if you played a whole year and get into the Tour Championship with the 30 best guys who have played the best all year, and you beat them that week with everything on the line, that’s a huge accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s about getting to East Lake. And then it\u2019s about one good week, just like Viktor Hovland had at the Valspar Championship<\/a>, like Chris Gotterup had at the Scottish Open<\/a>. Both are outside the top 20 in the FedEx Cup, happy and deserving to be at East Lake.<\/p>\n Twelve players at East Lake did well enough to get here without winning. If they win, are they the season-long FedEx Cup champion?<\/p>\n Even with a half-dozen changes to the postseason format dating to 2007, the best player didn’t always win the FedEx Cup.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n McIlroy won two majors and a World Golf Championship in 2014 and didn’t win it. The three times he did win the FedEx Cup, McIlroy was never at the top of the points list throughout the entire postseason until he delivered the goods at East Lake.<\/p>\n Scheffler was among those adamant about changing from \u201cstarting strokes,\u201d which gave the No. 1 seed \u2014 him each of the last three years \u2014 at least a two-shot lead over the field before the tournament started. It still took him the third try to finally win it.<\/p>\n He was in favor of giving up an advantage at a tournament where he has never posted the low 72-hole score and finished out of the top 10 in three of his five appearances. But Scheffler and others felt strongly that giving all 30 players the same chance is the way to identify the FedEx Cup champion.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at the FedEx Cup, I think it\u2019s a greater discussion,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to have a true season-long race \u2014 truly the best player every year wins \u2014 odds are it\u2019s not going to come to an interesting of a conclusion in most years.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n In other words, the race already would be over at this point.<\/p>\n \u201cIn order to win the FedEx Cup, you have to play good golf at the right time,\u201d he said. \u201cIn our sport, in order to accomplish what you want to accomplish, you have to play good golf at the right time. If you want to win major championships, you have to play great golf major championship weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n That’s where the clarity comes in.<\/p>\n The Tour Championship, which identifies the FedEx Cup champion, is no different from playing a major championship. That’s when players want to be at their best. Scheffler was at Quail Hollow and Royal Portrush. He wasn’t at Augusta National or Oakmont.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you get to the Tour Championship, you’ve had a great season,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cAnd now you have an opportunity to go out and win the FedEx Cup. But you have to play good golf at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n What hasn’t changed since the FedEx Cup began in 2007 is rewarding consistently good golf with an emphasis at the end of the year.<\/p>\n