‘It’s total bulls***’: Former major champ slams FedEx Cup Playoff format
Jimmy Walker finished 124th in the FedEx Cup standings when the regular season was complete, which is no longer good enough for a place in the Playoffs…
Former PGA Champion Jimmy Walker has blasted this year’s FedEx Cup Playoff format.
Walker finished 124th in the FedEx Cup standings after the Wyndham Championship which would’ve secured him a Playoff spot last season.
A new 70-man cut-off was introduced in 2023 which means competitors like Walker must play into the FedEx Cup Fall schedule to guarantee PGA Tour playing rights in 2024.
“They changed the rules. It’s been 125 forever. Then it’s like, no, it’s 50, or is it 70? It’s not 125. It’s total bulls***, that’s what I think of it,” Walker said, as reported by Golfweek.
“I’ve been working for 11 months to finish 124 and it’s like, nope, keep playing. So, I’m going to give it all I’ve got. That’s all I can do.”
The FedEx Cup Fall consists of seven events, beginning this week with the Fortinet Championship, and will help to finalise the top-125 exemption category for next season – which returns to a calendar-year structure.
Players who rank inside the top 125 through the fall will be exempt for Full-Field events in 2024 and the Players Championship, but not Signature Events – some of which have no 36-hole cut.
Walker, who won his first and only major at Baltusrol in 2016, was exempt through 2023 via career earnings criteria and he was also heavily critical of the communication between the tour’s hierarchy and the players.
“I can’t tell you how many people texted me saying congrats on making the 125. I’m like, ‘No man, it’s different’. I had to explain,” he added.
“They’ve done such a bad job communicating what is happening, partly because I don’t think they knew what was happening, honestly. It’s been one way forever.
“LIV and the Saudis happen and a lot of things change and everybody freaks out and we sign an agreement that stops litigation. I don’t know what’s going on. They’re talking about a big payout for the players that have stayed.
“All of it is blowing my mind. The tour is doing everything they can to take care of themselves and not the players. I’m just out here grinding, giving it all I’ve got. I’ve given them 20-some-odd years out here.”
The 44-year-old’s major triumph was his last win on tour. His first win was at this week’s tournament in 2013 when it was named the Frys.com Open.
He admits that had a handful of players not left for LIV Golf, he might not have been granted an extra year of playing rights through the career money list.
Nonetheless, Walker could miss out on playing in events such as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am that were given Signature status for next season, depending on his results in the FedEx Cup Fall.
“I’m back because of LIV and then it was like we’ve got to change everything. We have to pump more money into the PIP to keep our guys, make all these elevated events.
“I’m not going to get to play Pebble Beach next year, a field that’s always had 180 players and I’m a past champion (2014). I said to Jay, what if San Antonio was an elevated event?
“You’re going to tell me I live there, I’ve done I don’t know how many pressers for you guys and everything you’ve asked me to do and I can’t play my hometown event?”
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Matt Chivers
Now on the wrong side of 25, Matt has been playing golf since the age of 13 and was largely inspired to take up the game by countless family members who played golf during his childhood.
Matt is a member at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal playing off a 5 handicap, just a pitching wedge away from his hometown of Dover where he went to school and grew up. He has previously been a member at Etchinghill and Walmer and Kingsdown in Kent.
Having studied history at the University of Liverpool, Matt went on to pass his NCTJ Exams in Manchester a year later to fulfil his lifelong ambition of becoming a journalist. He picked up work experience along the way at places such as the Racing Post, the Independent, Sportsbeat and the Lancashire Evening Post.
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