The Pensacola Open
The Pensacola Open was on the PGA Tour schedule up through 1988. Since then, the Senior PGA Tour,
(now, Champions Tour), as well as the Nationwide Tour (now, Korn Ferry Tour) has hosted events
in and near Pensacola. For many years, Gary Player always enjoyed coming to the Senior Tour events
contested in this part of the Florida Panhandle.
Besides being the place where 1981 season-ending honors were decided, the Pensacola Open was
also the place where, in 1974, Lee Elder won his first PGA Tour event in a play-off with England's
Peter Oosterhuis. With the win, Elder became the first African-American to earn an invitation to
the Masters Tournament in Augusta, GA.
Suggesting Something New
Both the 1981 Pensacola Open and the entire 1981 PGA Tour season suggested that perhaps future
PGA Tour seasons could benefit from a meaningful season-long competition. Such a competition
could employ the use of either the existing money list or perhaps a separately maintained points
list. Then, at season's end, a special event could be held to decide several season honors.
What follows in the next paragraph is strictly the personal opinion of this author --
Participants for such a season-ending finale event might include any or all of the following ... (1) the top, say,
40 money or points leaders; (2) regular PGA Tour members who win official tour events during the season,
but are not among the top-40 money or points leaders; (3) regular members not otherwise eligible who finish
solo or tied 2nd in a tour event won by a non-member pro or amateur; (4) if not otherwise eligible, winners
from the previous year of the #1 money or points title as well as the season-ending finale event.
Such suggested invitational categories may have been discussed, if at all, but only the first one, the top
money or points leaders, trimmed down from top 40 to top 30, was adopted.
The Tour Championship
Beginning 1987, the PGA Tour introduced a season-ending championship, The Tour Championship, with
the intent that it would be the event where major season-ending honors might be settled. For the 1987
season, a points system was used to determine the field of 30 players. In 1988 and after, the field of 30
would be determined by the PGA Tour's Official Money List.
The only qualification for the Tour Championship was to be among the Top 30 Money Winners (or, in 1987
only, points leaders). No provisions were made to accomodate PGA Tour event winners outside the Top 30,
including anyone who might win one of the four major championships, the Players Championship, or the
World Series of Golf. Also, no provisions were made to account for any vacant spots among the Top 30.
If you were not among the Top 30 Money Leaders, then you would not qualify for the Tour Championship.
For the first 11 years of its run, the winner of the Tour Championship would be awarded a standard two-year
PGA Tour winner's exemption, the same as any regular tour event. Beginning 1998, the winner of the Tour
Championship would receive a three-year tour exemption, which would be honored at all regular open and
invitational events. The three-year exemption essentially made the tournament a mini-season championship
unto itself. If you could not claim the title of Leading Money Winner, worth a five-year exemption, then a
Tour Championship win, along with the three-year exemption, would be a nice consolation prize.
The Tour Championship may have been conceived to provide season-ending drama, but other than the
years 1989 and 1996, very little of that type of drama would occur.
In 1999 and 2000, the Tour Championship's status as a season-ending championship would be nullified
by the tournament that was scheduled one week later and contested over in Europe, the American Express
World Golf Championship. Beginning 2001, the WGC Amex would be contested on earlier dates in the fall,
giving season-ender status back to the Tour Championship.
In 2007, the Tour Championship became part of the Fed Ex Cup playoff series, serving as the finale event
for this season-long competition. The Fed Ex Cup section just a few lines down will have some more details.
Beginning 2019, the Tour Championship format was revised. Now, a tournament victory would still be official,
but there would no regular tournament purse !! Instead, the event now exists solely to determine the winner
of the annual Fed Ex Cup title. This particular change resulted in the loss of the Tour Championship's status
as a mini-season championship unto itself, because a tournament win will no longer award a three-year
exemption. Only the Fed Ex Cup title will award an exemption, which is for five years.
The Fed Ex Cup
In 2007, the PGA Tour launched the Fed Ex Cup. It is a season-long points race that reaches a climax in late
summer with a playoff series, orginally four events from 2007 to 2018. The Tour Championship was moved
from November to September in order to serve as the final play-off event. The Top 125 Fed Ex Cup Points
Leaders qualify for the play-offs, and then players are eliminated after each playoff event until only thirty (30)
are left to compete in the Tour Championship. As was the case from 1987 to 2006, only those players who
were among the Top 30 points leaders would play in the Tour Championship. No other categories would be
created to accomodate players outside the Top 30.
The Fed Ex Cup competition offers a Grand Prize of $10 million ($ 15 million, 2019-) from a bonus pool of
$35 million ($ 60 million, 2019-), along with a five-year PGA Tour exemption. There are only two (and only
two) conditions necessary in order to win the Fed Ex Cup Grand Prize -- (1) be a regular PGA Tour member;
and (2), have more Fed Ex Cup points than any other player after the Tour Championship.
A key major flaw of the playoff series setup was exposed to a small extent in 2007, and to a grossly larger
extent in 2008. The playoff events preceding the Tour Championship offered at least twice as many points
as offered by regular season events. In combination with the reset of player points before the playoffs, the
winner's share of points made for very large leads and very large differences between the #1 player and all
other's down to #30 by the start of the Tour Championship. The problem was further compounded by this
key fact -- the points offered at the Tour Championship, as well as at the three playoff events, were
pre-determined at least ten months before the playoffs would even start.
All of these issues could have been very easily and quickly solved if the PGA Tour had thought to have a
policy in place that would allow for custom adjustments of the Tour Championship points distribution to be
computed and published just two or three days before play in that event would begin. Such adjustments
could have compensated for unusally large points leads, while also giving all 30 Tour Championship
competitors a more than fair chance to win both the tournament and the Fed Ex Cup title.
No such custom adjustment policy has ever been adopted. Since 2008, several revisions of the playoffs have
occurred, but all have failed to properly resolve the issue of large points leads and large points differences
between any and all players.
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