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| Rory McIlroy hits his tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the BMW Championship golf tournament at Medinah Country Club – No. 3. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports |
Rory McIlroy is unconvinced by the new staggered start to be used at this weekโs season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta and questioned on Wednesday whether it could affect the tournamentโs prestige.
The PGA Tour has instigated the scoring system, based on accumulated points, so that top seed Justin Thomas starts the event at 10 under par, with the second seed at eight under, and so on, down to even par for the 26th-to-30th ranked players in the elite field.
This has been done so that, for the first time, the winner of the season-long FedEx Cup points race and the winner of the Tour Championship are guaranteed to be one and the same person.
Last year, with no staggered start, Tiger Woods won the Tour Championship but Justin Rose won the FedEx Cup. The Englishman almost anonymously collected a $10 million bonus as Woods justifiably earned the headlines for ending his five-year victory drought.
Woods did not qualify to defend his title this week.
โYou can shoot the best score of the week and not win the golf tournament,โ McIlroy told reporters at East Lake.
โIf that happens to someone itโs going to be hard for them to wrap their head around.โ
The four-times major champion added: โIf the FedEx Cup really wants to have this legacy in the game, like some of these other championships do, is people starting the tournament on different numbers the best way to do it?โ
The Northern Irishman is also unconvinced that the tournamentโs relentless focus on the first prize of $15 million is helping the eventโs prestige.
Network TV golf coverage in the United States for the past couple of weeks has breathlessly discussed the gameโs biggest payout ever.
โI donโt think the money needs to be front and centre, because I donโt think thatโs what the fans care about,โ McIlroy said.
โPlayers might care about it, and we want to be rewarded and paid for what we do, but at the same time, competitively, itโs not about that. Itโs about trying to win golf tournaments.
โWho knows what the winner wins at the Masters? I donโt know because thatโs not what itโs about.โ
Woods received $2.07 million for his famous victory at Augusta National in April.
Fifth seed McIlroy, who will start at five under par, has PGA Tour career prize money of nearly $50 million, not to mention earnings on other tours and in sponsorship deals.
Among this weekโs participants, Dustin Johnson leads career earnings with $61 million, while tour rookie Im Sung-jae is last with just under $3 million.
โIf the FedEx Cup wants to create a legacy that lasts longer it doesnโt need to be about the money, it should be about the prestige of winning an event that youโll be remembered for,โ McIlroy said.
REUTERS
