I LIKE THE IDEA OF GOLF PLAYOFFS, BUT…?

I have been watching the FedEx Cup playoffs the past couple of weeks, but for the life of me, I can’t really understand what is going on. I have to rely on the announcers to let me know who is in what place and who is winning, even though the guy in first place might be in tenth place. Go figure. In every other sport, the playoffs are pretty simple – win and you move on, and the clock, so to speak, starts all over again. Every team or individual in the playoff has a chance to win – even the ones that barely sneak in at the last moment. I’m not sure that is true for the golf playoffs. Let’s see. They play tournaments from January until the Wyndham Championship in August. Based on their finishes, players earn points. At the end of the season, the top 125 in point totals go into the playoffs. This is where I start to lose it. The players keep their point total from the season going into the first playoff round. Nothing resets. Certainly, one can move up based on good play, but if the season points leader plays well, it is unlikely that the person in the last spot can ever win. Heck, the person in first place does not necessarily have to play the first event to move on. That might be more tolerable if everyone started at zero in the next playoff tournament – it would be like receiving a bye for having the best record during the regular season. I believe, in playoffs, everyone should start equal. After all, players are being eliminated at each event. As long as one keeps making the cut, when it gets to the final, with 30 players remaining, the winner of the playoffs should be the guy who shoots the lowest score on that last Sunday. At least I can rely on the TV announcers letting me know who the winner will be. Methinks the theory of relativity is easier to figure out.