Kevin Kisner believes that Scottie Scheffler’s victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship proved that the signature event model has not worked, with the world number one taking all of the drama out of the tournament in Memphis.
Scheffler ended – by his standards – a lengthy wait for a win at TPC Southwind. It was the 30-year-old’s first victory since The American Express back in January.
And Scheffler certainly managed to get across the line in some style.
Kevin Kisner reacts to Scottie Scheffler winning the FedEx St. Jude Championship by eight shots
Scheffler took control of the tournament with a 61 on Friday, and he did not look back. Within six holes on Sunday, it was quite clear that no one was going to be able to catch Scheffler.
For some, it was confirmation that Scheffler has had the best year of anyone on the PGA Tour. It was his 12th top five of the season.
But speaking on the Fore Play Podcast, Kevin Kisner suggested that it also provided confirmation that the PGA Tour limiting the field sizes when the biggest stars feature has backfired.
“To put the 70 best players on the PGA Tour for however many weeks they’ve played up until this point, 25, that have all played their best seasons, and throw them all on a course and Scottie Scheffler just dog walks the next best guy by eight is insane to me,” he said.
“But it also leads to my other point that it proves that we don’t need these small fields, because if you had 125 guys there – I know it’s a playoff thing, but the signature events, if you had 125 guys, somebody else would have been within eight.
“You add 55 more of the best players in the world to that field, I don’t think he wins by eight.
“We tried to make that for TV viewing, if we get the best players in the world and smaller fields all playing together more often, we have a better product. But I don’t agree. I think it’s proven that we don’t.
“Make a cut, you have your drama. That’s what the tour was founded on, meritocracy, and we took it away and it didn’t work.”
What Kevin Kisner has got wrong about the signature events on the PGA Tour this year
Interestingly, the signature events on the PGA Tour in 2026 do not exactly back up Kisner’s point.
Yes, Cameron Young managed to win the Cadillac Championship at a canter, finishing six shots clear of Scheffler.
However, four of the eight signature events in 2026 went to a playoff, with Scheffler losing out on two occasions.
Meanwhile, Collin Morikawa and Jacob Bridgeman won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational respectively by just one shot.
Kristoffer Reitan was two shots clear at the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow.
Of course, those events could have been even more exciting had there been much larger fields. And they absolutely should have all included a cut at the halfway mark.
However, it would be unfair to say that the signature events have not delivered their fair share of drama this year.