"But the truth is, I'm just not ready."

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Tiger's official explanation for passing up the Barclay's:
I have decided not to play in The Barclays Classic next week at Westchester Country Club. As I have said all along, my intention was to compete in all four PGA Tour Playoff events, including the inaugural Barclays Classic. But the truth is, I'm just not ready.

Playing the last two weeks in the heat and humidity were mentally and physically draining. Although I managed to pull out victories in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship, my body is spent and I need a short break. Major championships are grueling experiences and usually necessitate recovery time.

Ever since turning professional in 1996, my goal has always been the same: To win every event I enter. I've done pretty well, winning 59 times on the PGA Tour. If I don't feel that way prior to a tournament, I won't commit.

This is in no way a knock on Barclays, their new event next week or the new FedEx Cup series, which I fully support. I just hope that this extra week of rest will rejuvenate me for the final three Playoff events and Presidents Cup. It is still my goal to win the FedExCup and I am hopeful this will give me the best opportunity to finish the year strong.

Tiger

Silver Lining In Woods Playoff Pass?

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The news that Tiger is skipping the Barclay's may not be all bad, as Jeff Rude notes somewhat intentionally.

Should Woods skip the first playoff event at Westchester (N.Y.) Country Club, it wouldn’t give the initial B-12 shot the Tour’s pet project was looking for and needed. After all, the Tour has used more than $40 million worth of advertising inventory this year to trumpet the new Cup series.

Good news for Woods and the Tour is this: He can still win the FedEx Cup if he misses Week 1. He’ll be the points leader at 100,000 after the reset on Sunday night. Based on Tour computer models, he’ll need to get to about 112,000 to win the Cup. That means he’d probably win the Cup with a victory, a fifth and a 10th in the playoffs. If he skips the opener, he’d just have three weeks to get those points instead of four.

That shouldn’t be too much of a hurdle for him considering the way he’s playing and the fact he has played well at the final three playoff courses. He won last year at the TPC Boston, site of the Week 2 Deutsche Bank Championship; he has won three times at Cog Hill, the BMW Championship venue in Week 3; and he has three seconds at East Lake in Atlanta, site of the Tour Championship grand finale.

Should Woods win the Deutsche Bank and BMW, he would be all but a mathematical lock to win the Cup. And the Tour Championship would become, to the Tour’s dismay, anticlimax.

So see, not playing Westchester is just one less Cup clinching win that would mess up this otherwise wonderfully concocted idea! 

Half Price Sale Starts Early In Greensboro!

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They paid $525,000 to help secure this date? 

John Dell reports the stunning news that the last spot on the FedEx Cup schedule isn't all that the folks in Greensboro hoped it would be.

Mark Brazil, the tournament director, says that concession prices have been slashed in an effort to attract fans to Greensboro’s Forest Oaks Country Club for the four days of the tournament and its pro-ams.

“We want the fans to be able to have a great experience out here,” Brazil said. “I ran this idea past other tournament directors, and they said they just never had the guts to do this. But we are focusing on making this a better experience for the fans, even if we might lose a little money with concessions.”

The price for a beer has been cut from $4 to $3, and all Coca-Cola products, including bottled water, will be $1. Other concession prices have also been reduced, Brazil said.

So get them drunk!

The tournament is doing what it can to offset a lack of star power in the field. The Wyndham is the final regular-season tournament of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup, and only the top 144 players in the points race advance to the playoffs, which will start next week.

There is no shortage of players hovering around the 144th spot on the points list, but those already secure for the playoffs are taking the week off. The Wyndham has a $5 million purse with $900,000 going to the winner, but the players are looking at the FedEx Cup points to be won as much as the money.

K.J. Choi, who is ranked 12th and won in Greensboro in 2005, pulled out of the tournament yesterday, citing fatigue. He was the highest-ranked player to have committed to the tournament.

Only two of the top 50 in the updated world rankings are in the field - Davis Love III, the defending champion and ranked 43rd, and Carl Pettersson, ranked 48th. Pettersson, a former player at N.C. State, lives near Raleigh and played his high-school golf at Greensboro Grimlsey.

Davis Love is playing because he's the defending champion and Carl Pettersson is in because it's his hometown event. Otherwise no one in the top 50 would be in to uh, jockey for more points.

I hate to belabor this, but it was noted here a year ago:

Of course, now that we know this final event before the FedEx Cup finale amounts to a shootout between spots 140-150 for those final places in the playoffs, and that it's before a stretch of four straight weeks of golf, is it really that great of a date?

Why would Tiger, Phil or Vijay or any other stars play Greensboro after playing the PGA/WGC Firestone and before the four-week stretch?

"I don't understand how it all works"

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Thomas Bonk looks at the FedEx Cup and seems pretty sure Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will be skipping the Barclay's. And he featured this from Phil:

"I don't understand how it all works," he said. "And certainly there are some things that can be done in the coming years to make it better. But it's the first year and you're never going to have it perfect the first year. It's kind of an evolutionary thing."

Meanwhile Sam Weinman talks to Padraig Harrington who sounds like he is really pumped up about it too.

"I could use a break," Harrington said. "Ideally, we'd play the first two weeks and then a week off, and then the last one. For guys like me, this FedExCup gives me a chance, because if I get hot at the end of the year, I could win it. And four weeks off is not the end of the world. But with all that's gone on with me the last few weeks, I could use a break."

"I question the clarity of the format for the public."

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fedexcuplogo.jpgThey fine players for questioning things don't they?

Well Dan Hinxman quotes a few players who aren't too keen on the FedEx Cup.

"I don't think anybody's talked about it," defending Reno-Tahoe Open champion Will MacKenzie said Wednesday, on the eve of the ninth annual RTO at Montreux Golf & Country Club. "I don't think anybody really cares too much about it."

And from Lucas Glover:

From a player's standpoint -- and I use this phrase a lot -- it's still the same game. There are just some added statistics to keep your eye on and play for. But really, from a player's standpoint, I don't think we've noticed it.

"I can't speak for the public, but I know a lot of people have asked me a lot of questions about it, so I question the clarity of the format for the public."

And this conjures up some funny images:

"I get a text message (from the tour) Sunday night after I played telling me how many points I got, and that's as much as I look at it," Glover said. "I always know where I stand because this time of year you have to because you want to play in those events leading up to Atlanta. But up until two or three weeks ago, I never looked at it."

Meanwhile Hank Gola of the New York Daily News quotes a skeptical Vijay Singh:

"I don't think it's a great idea to start everyone off that close," Singh said at the Barclays Media Day via conference call from Akron, Ohio. "A guy can play 18, 20 events all year and then play their heart out, and at the end of the day lead the FedEx Cup and be in the lead 100 points or 1,000 points ahead of the next guy. That's pretty unfair, but that's the way they've done it. Most of the guys were talking about that part."

The top 144 players on the season-long points list will make the Barclays field. The first 120 on the points list advance the following week to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.

Players needn't enter each of the events but the odds of winning the $1.26 million as the overall points winner are diminished if they don't. Therefore, there's an excellent chance that Woods will return to Westchester for the first time since 2003, when he tied for 13th.

"Getting used to it is a problem right now, is an issue right now with most of the players," Singh said.

The Annuity: FedEx Cup Killer?

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fedexcuplogo.jpgIt's long been rumored that Tiger Woods was strongly opposed to the $10 million annuity that will be given to the FedEx Cup winner. And as the exchange in yesterday's press conference revealed, he still is not a fan.

Naturally, some used this as a chance to suggest Tiger just wanted the cash, but more likely he's coming at this as a  fan and realizes that on Sunday of FedEx Cup weekend, the winner will not be asked how it feels to win $10 million or what he's going to do with the $10 million. Because he's not getting $10 million!

The winner won't see this money until he's 65, so there really isn't much to talk about.

And isn't that the point of the playoffs? To give everyone something to talk about? Even a $5 million or $4 million payday would have generated buzz. Shoot, $2 million would. But an annuity is not the stuff of water cooler conversation.

So two questions: Is this a deal killer for you as a fan? And to the financial gurus out there, approximately how much does the PGA Tour have to deposit annually to get that annuity up to $10 million by the time the player reaches 65? 

Choi Vows To Give FedEx Cup Grand Prize To Charity If Anyone Can Explain The Point Permutations

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Actually, Doug Ferguson reports, Choi just wants to win and give the $10 million annuity to charity. Pretty nice. Except, it doesn't work that way. Tiger Woods explains, and it doesn't sound like he's a big fan of the setup:

Q. Yesterday K.J. Choi said if he won the FedExCup he would donate the entire $10 million to charity. Just wondering if you had a reaction.
TIGER WOODS: Well, you don't get the $10 million. You know that, right (laughter)?

Q. You don't?
TIGER WOODS: No, it goes right into your retirement account, so he may want to donate but he can't until he actually retires.

Q. So when he's 65?
TIGER WOODS: Then he can donate it, yes.

Q. How much do you think that takes away from the prize, if you will?
TIGER WOODS: I think it does a little bit, because you're actually not really playing for the $10 million. I may be dead by the time my retirement fund comes around for me to be able to utilize it.

Q. Did you have any input on that?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I think we all did, but it just didn't turn out that way. 

You know, the first question with a $10 million prize would be, "what are you going to do with the money?" But they really won't be able to ask that of the champion will they?  

Mickelson Committed To Not Answering Anymore Questions About Playing All Four Playoff Events

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Sam Weinman reports that Phil has signed up to play at Westchester, making it possible he'll play all four playoff events and more importantly, to stop the inkslingers from those repeated questions about his FedEx Cup playoff plans.

Tiger has taken the same wise route, noting his "intent" to play all four events.

I Wonder If The Green Bay Packers Could Have Skipped A Playoff Game If They Wanted To?

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Yes, I'm that taken with Ric Clarson's metaphor.

Especially since Chris Lewis notes that Phil Mickelson's online schedule does not list this year's first playoff event, the Barclay's at Westchester. And Tiger never has listed the Barclay's on his web site.

Of course Tiger also doesn't list the Western BMW or The Tour Championship TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP (maybe he didn't want to look to presumptuous about his expected FedEx point tally!).

Are these playoffs if they are not mandatory?

"I wonder if the members of the Green Bay Packers when they won the very first Super Bowl in 1967.."

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The bigwigs gathered to plug the upcoming Deutsche Bank event at TPC Boston, and they even included my pal Gil Hanse to talk about the course architecture. Even though you and I know we'll be watching to see those exciting FedEx Cup point permutations unfold.

RIC CLARSON: I wonder if the members of the Green Bay Packers when they won the very first Super Bowl in 1967, which wasn't even called the Super Bowl then, realized their place in history. The fact of the matter is they knew it was a big game and an important game, but they didn't realize that the way that New England's fans realized it when the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Thus we embark on a new era in golf called the FedExCup.
Wow Ric, how long did you spend sculpting that gem? 
Adam Scott, the very first winner of the Deutsche Bank Championship, you never get a second chance to be first, and we're delighted on behalf of the PGA TOUR after 24 years to actually have a season now that is structured like other sports where our athletes have the chance to not only perform over a 33-week regular season but a four-week Playoffs.

Some of the greatest moments in sports come from Playoffs. Some of the greatest moments in golf have happened right here at the Deutsche Bank, and when you combine those two ingredients, we think we're in for a great new era in golf.

Some of the greatest moments in golf have happened at the Deutsche Bank? And you say you don't learn things coming to this website?

BRAD FAXON: I just want to say here, I've been part of the TPC since day one when we broke ground here. It's been six or seven years ago we broke ground. We always needed a facility like this, and I'm proud to say that the TPC of Boston is the best TPC in the country, especially now with what's been done, with everybody partnering now to make this tournament, the Deutsche Bank tournament, Seth, the TPC, the PGA TOUR, to go ahead and let us make changes to make this tournament-worthy golf course.

Easy Brad, let's break 'em in slow!

Like Seth said, everybody knows Deutsche Bank is on Labor Day. We're going to have an unbelievable field, and I'm pretty excited to see the reaction of all the players when they come here and see a course that was maybe liked but not super-well-liked, and hopefully the changes that you're going to get to see now, you're going to say, wow, this is different, this is a New England-style golf course, this looks old, it looks like it's been here. The bad lies and the bad shots that you get today are going to be Gil's fault (laughter).

And from Gil:

As Brad mentioned, what we were really hopeful of doing was trying to create a golf course that looked and felt a little bit more like New England. So I think the touches that you'll see out there will really be reflective of we borrowed literally and liberally from The Country Club, places that are close to our hearts, great old New England golf courses, drop mounds, some blind shots, fescue edged bunkers, fescue out in the rough areas. So hopefully the golf course will feel and look a little bit more rustic and a little bit more like New England.

From a playability standpoint, these guys are so good that I'm skeptical that there's anything we can do from a physical standpoint to limit or restrict what they do. You can always make bunkers so deep, you can only grow rough so thick and tall and you can only have greens so fast.
But what we really tried to concentrate on is the place where I think is the most vulnerable is the mental aspect, trying to make them have to think significantly of different options and different ways to play golf holes, making them feel uncomfortable over shots because they can't quite see the bottom of the flagstick or they might have been in a bunker or on an island and they don't quite have a perfect lie. I think these are the things that architects are going to have to rely more and more on as we go forward with technology and as good athletes as these gentlemen are and the way they play the game.

So hopefully you'll find more strategy, more areas -- I think Pete Dye has a phrase, "Once you get these guys thinking, they're in trouble." I think that's what we're hoping for is we can make them think a little bit more as they go around the golf course and explore different options and opportunities.

Tiger then joined in at this point and he artfully sidestepped questions about the course changes he hasn't seen yet.

"There's a buzz in the locker room regarding the point system."

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Trevor Immelman, quoted by Len Ziehm in the Chicago Sun Times, talking about the FedEx Cup:

''I'm paying attention now because I'm just outside the top 30,'' he said. ''This is the point where players start paying attention to it. There's a buzz in the locker room regarding the point system. Everyone wants to be a part of it.''

While the system has its critics, Immelman said the players have gotten behind it.

''The point system is what it is,'' he said. ''The guys embraced it because the decision [to use it] has been made. We need to go ahead to make this a success, and everything the PGA Tour has done has been a success.''
That's right, the Tournament Players Championship The Players Championship The PLAYERS PLAYERS is the fifth of golf's four majors.

Ed Sherman looked at the likelihood of players entering all of the playoff events after sweating out half their body weight in Tulsa and Akron. 

The PGA Tour is hopeful. It knows if Woods and Mickelson don't buy in at 100 percent, the FedEx Cup will feel more like the Standard Mail Cup.

"We want to see how it plays out," said Bob Combs, a senior vice president for the PGA Tour. "The top players have said they will play the entire stretch. You may have a player opt to sit out an event, but they will be putting their position at risk [in the playoffs]."

Of course, haven't we been told that they would be putting their position at risk unless they played more often? That doesn't seem like it's happening. Not yet anyway.

Love Takes Week Off To Better Position Himself In FedEx Cup

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Secure at 84th in the FedEx Cup standings, Davis Love only has to secure six top-8 six finishes (or the top 6 eight times), or win twice, or give Senior VP Ric Clarson a ride on his camper to accumulate enough points to get in the Tour Championship. Therefore he has opted not to enter this week's Canadian Open, even though he just finished a design redo of host site Angus Glen's North Course.

 

Since the first week of May, Bill Paul has been expecting Davis Love III to be playing in this week's Canadian Open. But not having him in the field, on a course he was paid handsomely to tweak, represents the biggest disappointment of the year to the tournament director.

"Every time we talked from The Players Championship on, he was going to play," Paul said yesterday of Love. "He is the biggest disappointment ... obviously, he should be here."

Love, who missed the cut last week at the British Open, is the name behind the design company that made several subtle changes to the 7,320-yard Angus Glen North Course.

When he was in Markham to discuss the changes he made in early June, Love was noncommittal about his plans for the $5 million (all figures U.S.) championship that begins Thursday.

He said one factor in the decision would be his form heading into the final few weeks of the PGA Tour season; if he needed to crowd his schedule to make enough points to qualify for the season-ending FedEx Cup playoff, he said he'd give the Canadian Open serious consideration.
Just look how that 144-man cut off is making guys add events!

 

Of course, getting to Toronto from Carnoustie was very, very, err...easy.

"I think they're as confused as some of us players"

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Gary D'Amato talks to PGA Tour brass about FedEx Cup scenarios (get your pen and paper out) and asks if fans care about the FedEx Cup standings?

"I think they're as confused as some of us players," [Kenny] Perry said. "I think only when it plays out in September will we all have a better feel for it."

Said Goydos: "I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do, but the reality is that I don't think the public has a good grasp. The Tour needs to do a good job of educating. That's their big challenge."

Bernhard Langer is No. 53 in the FedEx Cup points but said he would skip the playoffs because he has committed to play in tournaments on the European and Champions tours. But he thought fans would embrace the FedEx Cup, once they understood how it worked.

"I think the American people are used to playoffs from all the other major sports," Langer said.

Uh except in those playoffs, it's easy to figure out who gets eliminated.  

Only 9 Weeks Left To Accumulate Vital Cup Points!

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I don't believe you'll read this anywhere because, frankly, it's just hard to swallow. But if the final 144 teed it up today, Chris Stroud would not be in the FedEx Cup playoffs. I just do my part to keep you up on breaking news.

Meanwhile, Chris Elsberry in the Connecticut Post actually finds some players who claim they're thinking of ways to earn more FedEx Cup points. This, on top of the Commissioner's understandable excitement. Understandable, because he's the one who signed off on this stinker of a concept.

"The FedEx Cup itself, we're just real pleased with the way it's come along," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said this week at the Travelers Championship. "The real impact this first year will occur in the playoff event, and that will set the base for next year. But it's shaping up to be an excellent playoff schedule, and hopefully, if it meets our expectations, it will have a greater impact on what (tournaments) players enter next year."

Without question, the Travelers benefited from its increased status of being a FedEx Cup event, according to Finchem.

"We are seeing some changes. There are a number of players here this week that hadn't been here in a while," he said. "That was an important thing to happen ... the biggest thing coming out of this week for the future is word of mouth. A lot of people call it buzz or whatever. Quality of the event, that's happening here. That's a good development. So we're real pleased."

 Yep, I'm sure they flocked to the Travelers because of the FedEx Cup!

The top point earners sure didn't... 

1 1 Tiger Woods 9 19,524 DNP 3 6
2 2 Phil Mickelson 14 15,818 DNP 2 5
3 3 Vijay Singh 18 15,723 4 2 5
4 4 Zach Johnson 15 12,405 CUT 2 4
5 5 Charles Howell III 16 11,922 DNP 1 5
6 6 Rory Sabbatini 16 11,238 DNP 1 5
7 7 Adam Scott 11 10,357 DNP 1 5
8 8 Jim Furyk 14 9,537 DNP
5
9 9 K.J. Choi 17 9,089 DNP 1 4
10 10 Aaron Baddeley 14 9,024 DNP 1 5
11 11 John Rollins 18 8,701 CUT
3
12 12 Scott Verplank 14 8,305 DNP 1 5
13 13 Luke Donald 14 8,241 DNP
5
14 14 Mark Calcavecchia 16 8,221 T54 1 4
15 16 David Toms 16 8,106 T6
7
16 15 Boo Weekley 19 8,099 DNP 1 3
17 17 Sergio Garcia 12 7,249 DNP
4
18 18 Geoff Ogilvy 14 7,179 DNP
4
19 89 Hunter Mahan 18 6,990 1 1 2
20 19 Steve Stricker 15 6,830 DNP
4
21 20 Henrik Stenson 8 6,618 DNP 1 2
22 21 Robert Allenby 15 6,569 DNP
6
23 22 Bubba Watson 16 6,542 DNP
5
24 24 Jerry Kelly 17 6,468 T15
6
25 23 Nick Watney 16 6,235 CUT 1 2