The PGA Tour just celebrated the 10th anniversary of its FedEx Cup playoffs, which have transformed professional golf into must-see TV in September.
When the FedEx Cup playoffs began in 2007, there were skeptics who doubted that a season-long points race culminating in a four-tournament playoff would keep sports fans interested in golf as football season got underway and baseball season neared its postseason.
But after a few format tweaks, the PGA Tour has proven it also can be relevant and exciting in September – thanks to FedEx Cup champions such as Tiger Woods (2007 and 2009) and Jordan Spieth (2015), who started and finished their playoff runs at No. 1, as well as Billy Horschel (2014), a long–shot champion who was 69th when the playoffs began but won the final two postseason events to capture the FedEx Cup trophy and $10 million bonus.
All of which makes this a good time for the 50-and-older pros on the PGA Tour Champions to compete in the inaugural Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs – a trio of postseason events beginning in late October. The top 72 players on the Schwab Cup points list after the regular season qualify for the first Schwab Cup playoff event – the PowerShares QQQ Championship at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks (Oct. 28-30). The top 54 players after Sherwood advance to the second playoff event – the Dominion Charity Classic in Virginia – and the top 36 players on the points list advance to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Scottsdale (Nov. 11-13), where the tour champion will be crowned.
To give more players a chance to win the Schwab Cup, points will be doubled in the first two playoff events and be reset before the final event in Arizona. Like in the FedEx Cup playoffs, that will enable each of the top five on the points list to win it all with a season-ending victory but also makes it mathematically possible for the 36th-ranked player to prevail.
“I like the new playoff format,” said Duffy Waldorf, the defending Toshiba Classic champion, who was seventh on the Schwab points list heading into the final month of the regular season. “In the past, you had the regular season and then one more tournament (for the top 30 players to determine the Schwab Cup champion). This brings a lot more players into the mix, especially with the points reset for the final tournament. Bernhard Langer has a stranglehold on the Schwab Cup (race) now (with a huge lead on the money list), but he’s going to have to give it up (during the points reset). I think that’s good, because everyone will have a chance to move up.
“It’s the modern era now. It worked for the FedEx Cup playoffs, and I think ours will be as good or better just because it’s not as extreme. … And I think this year is more wide open than it’s ever been.”
Waldorf, a UCLA alumnus and resident of Venice, likes his chances, too, with the playoffs opening at Sherwood, a Jack Nicklaus design he has played often over the years. He remembers teaming with Glen Day in the 1999 Shark Shootout, the last one staged at Sherwood, and playing a few “friendly money games” at the club with friends. Waldorf estimates he has played at least 25 rounds at Sherwood, the latest a practice round in September to experience the changes that were made during a year-long course restoration by Nicklaus and to do some homework before the first-ever Champions playoff event.
“I think the course definitely fits my game,” Waldorf said. “I think that is an edge because there’s a comfort level.”
Sherwood was closed for play to its members for most of 2015 and the first two months of 2016 during the renovation, which included putting a base of sand under all of the new fairways and under all of the new greens – a process called “sand capping,” which helps drainage and reduces the amount of water needed by about 25 percent, Nicklaus estimated. The bunkering and irrigation system were also improved.
The course reopened in March and is in immaculate condition for the return of professional golf after a three-year absence. Previously, Sherwood was the host venue for the Shark Shootout, a Greg Norman-hosted team event sanctioned by the PGA Tour from 1989–1999. In ’99, Sherwood also was the site of a match-play challenge exhibition between then-No. 1 Tiger Woods and then-No. 2 David Duval, a made-for-prime-time-TV event on ABC billed as “Showdown at Sherwood.” (The same slogan is being used for the PowerShares QQQ Championship.)
When Norman moved the Shark Shootout to Florida, Woods brought his World Challenge charity tournament to Sherwood, where it was contested from 2000-2013. It’s probably not a coincidence that Greg McLaughlin, the new president of PGA Tour Champions, was executive director of the Tiger Woods Foundation when the World Challenge was played at Sherwood.
With the Toshiba Classic being played at Newport Beach Country Club in early October and the inaugural Charles Schwab Cup playoffs opening at Sherwood in late October, Waldorf says, “It’s kind of a Fall Swing through Los Angeles. It’s time for us to start our own new (playoff) history on the Champions tour.”
POWERSHARES QQQ CHAMPIONSHIP
When: Oct. 28-30
Where: Sherwood Country Club, Thousand Oaks
Format: Top 72 players on regular-season money list; 54 holes, stroke play.
Sponsor: Invesco PowerShares, an investment management firm based in suburban Chicago that manages a family of exchange-traded funds, one of which is QQQ, a widely traded share on the stock market.
Miscellaneous: This is the first of three postseason events in the inaugural Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs on the PGA Tour Champions. The PowerShares QQQ field is comprised of the top 72 players on the regular-season money list, with the top 54 advancing to the second event and the top 36 to the final event.
Purse: $2 million (First place: $300,000)
Tickets or more information: Call (844) TOUR-465 or visit PowerSharesQQQChampionship.com.
