Have you caught FedEx Fever? No? Really? You're not uber excited for a contrived playoff system designed to generate excitement? The PGA Tour is going to be pissed.
Now, I was a critic of the Fed Ex Cup from the start, and a lot of that was based on pure ignorance. Originally, I thought points re-set and a nobody might get hot and win a tournament and come in fifth in another and win $10 million. Turns out that they seeded the players based on their play during the season. While all 144 players mathematically have a shot, it would take something on the order of two wins and two more Top 10s for someone from the bottom of the pack to be a realistic winner.
At first I did approve of this new information, but now I think I would have preferred a straight re-set. That would have done a few things.
1)Instead of paying lip service to "committing to the Fed Ex cup," players like Tiger Woods would have been forced to tee it up if the wanted the top prize. Speaking of the prize money, it is deferred into the Player's retirement plan, which has some players hacked off because they don't know how to compensate their caddies. Here's a thought: put some money in a retirement plan for the caddie. Yes, you'll have to front some right now, but given the fact that so many caddies end up sick and destitute, why not insure them some financial stability down the line? The caddies will be paid well for each tournament in the next four weeks, the bonus is just that.
2) There would have been real excitement. Since the big gun is sitting out, the possibility exists that the field will bunch up and create excitement. That might work, but wouldn't it have been more fun to watch them all have to "play for their supper?"
Yeah, I'm going back on my original thoughts, but I'm a blogger, who said I have to have journalistic credibility? I've decided to be a critic of the Fed Ex Cup, no matter what they do. I cannot be pleased.
I think that my derision is a product of a system that was meant to add pop to the post-Major season, and to give the PGA Tour some piece of the pro golf's buzz, which is exclusively reserved for the Majors, none of which are run by the PGA Tour. The Tour wanted to have publicity that was theirs alone, not that their players shared with Augusta National, the USGA, the R&A or the PGA of America, with the Tour on the outside, looking in. That's fair, any business wants to be successful, but the system as it stands is open to criticism on several levels. In the past months, I've criticized it from both sides. Maybe that's more a reflection on my spinelessness, but it also may be a reflection on a flawed, convoluted system.
I think that this system was meant to build interest down the stretch, and that is completely self-serving on the PGA Tour's part. As one of the few people who will watch events like the Wyndham Championship, maybe I'm not the type of fan the PGA Tour is appealing to. That might make me unqualified to speak on the merits of the system, but I've always felt that, in many cases, doing things in an effort to reach the casual fan isn't always in the best interest of the sport. I don't want to sound like some golf-purist, scoffing at johnny- come-lately fans. I will watch the golf anyway, and $10 million into some players retirement account doesn't change that. I doubt it will bring Joe Viewer to their TV sets, either.