World No 1 Jon Rahm slams unfair FedEx Cup play-off format –

Piers Morgan plays a round of golf with Dan Walker

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Jon Rahm has complained about the FedEx Cup play-offs format, describing the system as “unfair”. Rahm is currently the number one ranked player in the world, and leads the way at the Northern Trust competition heading into the weekend.

Rahm backed up an opening round 63 with a comfortable 67 on Friday, and is yet to make a bogey at the Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.

However, those results do not mean he is happy with the way the enormous $15 million prize is decided.

In the Fedex Cup play-offs, the top 125 players from the regular season jostle for points and position in the first two events- the Northern Trust and next week’s BMW Championship in Maryland.

After that, at the Tour Championship, points become irrelevant as each player starts on a score depending on their ranking going into that week.

Rahm thinks this system can punish players for having one bad outing, and thus isn’t really fair.

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The Spaniard said: “I don’t think it’s fair. 

“I don’t like that at all. I think you have the playoffs itself and win the first two, and if you don’t play good on the last one, you don’t—you can end up with a really bad finish.”

Rahm suggested comparisons with other sports were difficult to make sense of, as final positioning in golf matters more given that it decides how much prize money a player takes home.

The 26-year-old continued: “I understand the system, and the way I was told by one of the PGA Tour officials—I’m a Patriots fan, and if the Patriots win everything and get to the Super Bowl, and they don’t win the Super Bowl, you don’t win the Lombardi Trophy, right? 

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“My answer was, they still finished second. They have to understand golf is a little different.

“At the end of the day, you could win 15 events, including both playoffs events, and you have a two-shot lead.

“I understand it’s for TV purposes and excitement and just making it more of a winner-take-all, and they give you a two-shot advantage, but over four days that can be gone in two holes, right?

“I don’t know what system is best. I do like going to East Lake with this new one in the sense of knowing where you stand and what you have to do. 

“You know, the years prior, so many different combinations of what could happen. It was kind of hard to get your head focused on one thing, right.

“I don’t think it’s a fair system in that sense now, but it’s the one we have and it’s what we’ve got to deal with.”

Rahm currently leads in New Jersey by one shot from American Tony Finau.

US players make up nine of the top 11 at the event, with heavy-hitters like Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele all ready to take advantage of any slip-ups from Rahm.

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