The PGA Tour told the ‘biggest change’ which now needs to be made to the FedEx Cup playoffs

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The PGA Tour could have hardly asked for a better start to the FedEx Cup playoffs, with four world-class players battling for the title at the first event at TPC Southwind.

Ultimately, it was Justin Rose who won the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. The Englishman beat J.J. Spaun in a dramatic playoff after the pair finished the tournament at 16 under par.

Elsewhere, Tommy Fleetwood suffered more disappointment after failing to convert another 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour. And Scottie Scheffler joined him in a tie for third on 15 under par.

There was also plenty of intrigue late on Sunday to see whether Rickie Fowler would do enough to move himself inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings. Of course, Fowler was looking to secure his spot in next year’s signature events, as well as book his ticket for the BMW Championship this week.

Rory McIlroy’s decision should prompt the PGA Tour to make a big change to the FedEx Cup playoffs

But while the FedEx St. Jude Championship seemed to be a real success, there was a lot of debate surrounding Rory McIlroy‘s decision to skip the event.

Some felt McIlroy was making a call which boosted his hopes of winning the Tour Championship. Others were surprised that Scottie Scheffler did not also decide to take the week off.

And with that, the PGA Tour has now been urged to make a change to the playoff format. Speaking on the Golf Channel, Steve Sands believes that players should only earn their spot the following week through their performance in that particular playoff event.

“Sadly, yes. I think that’s the biggest change that needs to be made moving forward in these playoffs. I think the FedEx Cup playoffs have gotten better, and they have become a huge thing on a player’s resume. It’s now major championships, it’s Players Championship titles, it’s FedEx Cup titles – you look at Rory McIlroy there, he’s won five majors, he’s won a couple of Players, and he’s won three FedEx Cup titles. It’s a huge thing on a player’s resume,” he said.

“And this has nothing to do with Rory. I think Rory was playing by the rules. He was allowed to skip last week, so there were 69 guys instead of 70. I just think as a sports fan, not just a golf fan, but a sports fan, you can’t be eligible to win the playoffs if you don’t play in all three playoff events. Again, that’s not Rory or the players’ fault. I think that’s the tour and the players needing to come together and making sure that everybody shows up. Unless there’s an injury, unless there’s a family situation or something like that, if you’re eligible to play and able to compete, I think you should have to play in all playoff events if you’re going to keep advancing and then eventually have a chance to win the Tour Championship.

“I like what they did at the Tour Championship, I think it’s great that they’re going back to regular golf. 72 holes, stroke play, best score wins. But I think not having somebody of the stature of Rory McIlroy last week in Memphis, not only does that hurt the field, it hurt the fans, it hurt the sponsor, I just think it hurts the tour. I think that the tour needs to make sure moving forward, in my opinion, again, I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault, I just think that thing has got to get fixed moving forward.”

Where Rory McIlroy sits in the FedEx Cup standings after skipping the first playoff event

The problem for the PGA Tour is that the players seem to have a large say in any significant changes. Their dislike of the starting strokes at the Tour Championship seemed to help lead to that being abolished this year.

So there may be a number of top players who will be extremely reluctant to vote through a policy that makes potentially competing at all three playoff events mandatory.

But Sands is right that things need to change.

McIlroy went into the first playoff event sat in second in the FedEx Cup. And he still finds himself in second place after the visit to Memphis.

Obviously, all that matters now is being inside the top 30. The player in 30th heading to East Lake will start on the same score as the player at the top of the standings.

But it is not the best look that McIlroy can afford to skip a playoff event and be no worse off at all – apart from the fact that he missed out on a paycheque in Memphis.