CHICAGO (Bloomberg) — Tiger Woods and Ernie Els are the latest golfers to criticise the scheduling format of the US PGA Tour's new FedEx Cup play-off.

Woods and Els, ranked Nos. 1 and 4 in the world, complained about the lack of player input in decisions regarding the condensed tournament schedule leading up to next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta.

In its first year, the FedEx Cup play-off consists of four events that culminate with the Tour Championship. The field of players is cut each week and ends with 30 players trying to win $10 million at the final tournament. Both Woods and Els have skipped play-off events. Phil Mickelson, ranked No. 2, is sitting out this week.

"We all didn't think it was in the best interest for us as players to play that much," Woods said in a transcript of a news conference yesterday at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club near Chicago, the site of this week's BMW Championship. "It's a lot of golf for a lot of guys. These are all big events."

Woods missed the play-off-opening Barclays championship in New York to rest, while Els sat out last week's Deutsche Bank near Boston to help his children prepare for the start of school in London.

Woods is expected to give his decision any day on whether he will compete in the Grand Slam of Golf, to be held in Bermuda in mid-October. Others who have qualified, as winners of the majors this year, are Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera and Zach Johnson.

Mickelson, who won the Deutsche Bank to vault to the top of the FedEx Cup points list, said this week he is skipping the BMW to spend time with his family.

"The way that the schedule is this year is not going to work for me long term," Mickelson said at a news conference in New York on August 22, the day before the Barclays started. "Something is going to have to give."

Els laid the blame for the scheduling issues with the commissioner's office, which he said didn't give the players enough information before implementing the new system.

"I just feel in certain ways we've kind of grown apart a little bit," Els said. "We've grown apart from each other because of these big decisions that were made without the real knowledge of the players."

Els and Woods also said they weren't initially aware that the $10 million first prize goes into the winner's retirement fund rather than be paid in one lump.

Commissioner Tim Finchem said the Tour would consider changes at the end of the year, but said the players should have known what to expect since they were given details after numerous meetings between the Tour and its Player Advisory Council.

"Over the last six months, we've discovered that a lot of players, regardless of the amount of information that might have been discussed, didn't necessarily for whatever reason want to pay much attention to it," Finchem said.

Not everybody blamed the commissioner. Arron Oberholser, who tied for second with Woods last week, said part of the responsibility lies with the players.

"We are in our own cocoons sometimes and we don't get the information, but yet most of us don't seek it out," he said. "The PGA Tour does its best to get us the information."

Oberholser, who is single, said he sympathised with married players wanting to spend more time at home. He also said such conflicts go far beyond professional golf.