How to Fix The FedEx Cup in 2026

View From The Fairway by Derek Clements

Tommy Fleetwood's victory at the Tour Championship filled me with more joy than I have experienced watching any other golf tournament in 2025 - and that includes Rory McIlroy’s gut-wrenching success at The Masters, when the Northern Irishman finally completed the career grand slam.

I interviewed Fleetwood early in his professional career and was struck by what a likeable human being he was back then. And that remains my overriding feeling about the Englishman. What you see is what you get.

I knew he had a steely and competitive side but I also sensed that he was going to have a long and successful career and that he was going to become a crowd favourite and make a lot of friends along the way. 

Tommy Fleetwood's Dream Victory

How wonderful was it to see Justin Rose filming Fleetwood on the final green at East Lake, flanked by Harry Hall and Shane Lowry? Rose said he got more joy from watching Fleetwood win than if it had been him holing the winning putt. His fellow players were thrilled for him. And so were the massive American galleries, who chanted his name as he savoured the moment.

At his 164th attempt and after more than 40 top-10 finishes and six runner-up finishes, he finally did it.

I suffered with him when he was robbed of the 2023 Canadian Open by an outrageous Nick Taylor putt on the first playoff hole, I was gutted for him when he threw away the Travelers Championship, a defeat made all the more painful because the man who beat him was Keegan Bradley, the US Ryder Cup captain. And I thought, "Oh no, not again," when he once again came up short at the FedEx St Jude, the first of the playoff tournaments. The pain was eased somewhat by the fact that Rose won in a playoff. It is to Fleetwood’s eternal credit that he found himself back in contention once again at the following week’s BMW Championship.

There has been no more popular winner anywhere in 2025 than Fleetwood at East Lake.

Why The FedEx Cup Needs Changes

Having said all of that, it is quite clear that the FedEx Cup is crying out for surgery. 

The starting strokes system had its critics and quite clearly wasn’t perfect. But throwing all their eggs in one basket at the Tour Championship surely cannot be right, can it?

Nobody will argue with the fact that Scottie Scheffler has been the outstanding player on the PGA Tour (and the entire planet) in 2025. He won two majors, the BMW Championship and two other titles. In the three playoff events he was tied third with Fleetwood at the FedEx St Jude, won the BMW and tied fourth at the Tour Championship, where he recorded his 21st successive sub-70 round. 

I do not have a problem with the top 70 making it to the St Jude, the top 50 playing at the BMW and the top 30 finishing it all off at East Lake. But there simply has to be a better way of deciding the FedEx Cup winner than giving it to the man who wins at East Lake.

How to Fix The FedEx Cup

My solution is a simple one, and something they have done before. And I cannot understand why it was abandoned.

You give the winner of the FedEx St Jude, say, 500 points, with points awarded in descending order to the 50 golfers who qualify for the BMW. You then give the winner of the BMW, say, 750 points, with further points awarded in descending order to the 30 who make it to the Tour Championship. The winner of the Tour Championship then receives 1,000 points, with points again awarded in descending order to the rest of the field.

The winner of the Tour Championship gets a trophy for finishing first and the golfer who accumulates the most points over the three events is crowned FedEx Cup champion. It is not rocket science. 

In truth, had that system been in play in 2025, Fleetwood would still have picked up both trophies, with Scheffler finishing second. But at least there would have been no arguments and no debate.

I would also move it to later in the year. The PGA Tour is currently having a short break and when it resumes we are subjected to the FedEx Fall Series. Why? 

I have been sickened by some of the comments I have read on social media since Fleetwood’s victory. Let’s get something straight here and now - it was fully deserved. He played better than everybody else and was crowned FedEx Cup champion because that’s the way the PGA Tour set things up.

There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that there will be changes in store for 2026.