The PGA Tour Playoffs are set to begin imminently, with the FedEx St. Jude Championship set to take centre stage on Thursday.
The season-long FedEx Cup race is set to reach its conclusion when the Tour Championship takes place at East Lake at the end of this month.
However, there are two PGA Tour events scheduled before the showpiece event – the FedEx St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship.
Brian Rolapp was announced as the new CEO of the PGA Tour back in June, and he is said to have grand plans to take the tour on towards a new era of success.
That said, one specific flaw has already been exposed regarding the FedEx Cup Playoffs, with Rory McIlroy deciding to skip the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
And now, another criticism has been made of the PGA Tour ahead of the Playoffs, and Rolapp must make a big change for the 2026 season.
PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs criticised as Brian Rolapp urged to make change
Rolapp has made it very clear that he ‘won’t be overly bound by golf’s traditions’ when it comes to moving the game forward.
However, it seems like one of his first ports of call will be to revert to something that is, in fact, more traditional!
Dan Rapaport made it very clear that he is not happy one little bit with the venues of the Playoff events, when speaking on his Dan on Golf YouTube show.
“The BMW in Chicago was electric and it’s an abomination that it’s not there any more.
“Our three final weeks in August, it’s the hottest part of the year… I would love to be a fly on the wall of Brian Rolapp, the new CEO of the PGA Tour or Strategic Sports Group. They are getting in there and they’re like we have three final weeks of the year. We are going to go to New York? No. Okay, let’s go Chicago? No. How about LA, it’s really nice there? No.
“We are going to Memphis, Baltimore and Atlanta. It’s no disrespect to those three cities but in August that is where we are going?
“These events should be somewhere beautiful where it’s awesome in August. I think it was cool when they had the BMW in Denver last year. I just think we can do a lot better than Memphis, Baltimore and Atlanta.
“I understand Memphis is where FedEx is based and Atlanta is where Coca-Cola is based and there are reasons these are moved around because of the sponsors, but hopefully with the Strategic Sports Group getting in, we can have a new voice in there.
“I think the playoffs would have a lot more juice if it was LA, Chicago and New York.
“Brian Rolapp always says the fan and the product is most is important. It’s hard for me to believe that Memphis, Baltimore and Atlanta is the best we can do from a product perspective.“
That is such a good point from Rapaport. Why not take the FedEx Cup Playoffs to cities with notoriously vociferous sports fans?
It just makes sense, doesn’t it.
How the FedEx Cup bonus pay-outs work
Scottie Scheffler may not start the Tour Championship with a two-stroke lead this year, but he has already pocketed a nice chunk of change.
Scheffler earned a $10 million bonus for leading the FedEx Cup race at the end of the regular season. He also took home a nice $8 million bonus for sitting at the top of the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10.
A further $5 million will be paid out as a bonus to whichever player sits at the top of the FedEx Cup standings after the BMW Championship next week.
And then whoever wins the Tour Championship will be handed $10 million.
It’s nice work if you can get it, isn’t it?
The FedEx Cup is clearly a very lucrative initiative set up by the PGA Tour. However, Rolapp and the rest of the tour’s hierarchy need to make a few small changes for 2026 to ensure that the system works perfectly.
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