PGA Tour Finalizes FedEx Cup Revisions...

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...And let me tell you, I can't wait for next year's "tweaking" debate.

Actually, this initial release contains no mention of bloated points for regular season major wins to ensure that the major winners are at East Lake. That rumored "tweak" was going to be a huge credibility killer. As were some of the discussed field reductions, which are now more sensible, particularly with only 125 making it to the "playoffs."

It appears that the winner will be decided those last four days at East Lake and that you will have to play decently in at least two of the playoff events to have a chance of winning. But I still say an unpredictable, final day shootout would have been great fu...ah forget it...there I go again with that fun word!

PGA TOUR Policy Board Approves Modifications to FedExCup Structure
Dates finalized for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – November 25, 2008--The PGA TOUR Policy Board has ratified recommended changes to the structure of the FedExCup competition that guarantee the FedExCup champion will be determined at the culminating Playoff event, THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. These changes impact both the Regular Season and the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

During a special teleconference held today, the Board also approved scheduling the 2009 TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola for the week of Sept. 21-27, creating a one-week separation from the penultimate Playoff event, the BMW Championship (Sept. 7-13).

Key among the approved FedExCup changes for 2009 are:

Shifting the points reset from the beginning of the Playoffs to after the BMW Championship, which means points earned during the PGA TOUR Regular Season will be carried through the first three Playoff events
Quintupling points awarded at Playoff tournaments relative to Regular Season tournaments

Changing the field size of the Playoff events to 125 at The Barclays, 100 at the Deutsche Bank Championship, 70 at the BMW Championship and 30 at THE TOUR Championship; they previously were 144, 120, 70 and 30
Streamlining the points structure for ease of understanding

“At the conclusion of this year’s FedExCup, we knew we had to reevaluate the current structure and consider the best ways to maintain interest and excitement throughout the Playoffs,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “With the changes we have announced today, we believe we have a formula that will deliver what our players, fans, tournaments, sponsors and television partners want and expect from the FedExCup.”

The reset ensures a real shootout at THE TOUR Championship as all 30 players in the field will have a mathematical chance of winning the FedExCup with a victory at East Lake Golf Club. A win by any of the top 5 seeds will guarantee the FedExCup title outright while seeds 6-10 will have an excellent chance of capturing the title with a victory.

“By moving the reset to after the BMW Championship, the Regular Season not only will determine who qualifies for the Playoffs, it also will play a vital role in determining who advances to THE TOUR Championship,” Finchem said. “These structural changes, combined with the one-week break between the BMW Championship and THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, will assure heightened drama and excitement as we progress through the Regular Season and into the Playoffs.”

This new structure rewards the top performers during the PGA TOUR Regular Season and those who excel during the Playoffs. By quintupling the points for Playoff events, more dramatic moves toward the top of the standings are possible during the first three events, thus determining who is in best position to challenge for the FedExCup at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

The points structure also has been simplified by significantly reducing the number of points awarded at tournaments and at the reset. Regular Season events will be worth 500 points to the winner with modest differences in certain events, including the major championships and THE PLAYERS Championship. Playoff events will award 2,500 points for a victory. The reset will award 2,500 points to the No. 1 seed heading into THE TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. (See attached charts for complete points distribution.)

In regard to the remainder of the 2009 schedule, Finchem said the Fall Series is expected to be announced within the next two weeks.

FedEx Fix Tabled For "Further Review and Discussion"

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Steve Elling blogs that the disastrous FedEx Cup fix expected to be green-lit this week by the PGA Tour Policy Board hit a snag: the PGA Tour Policy Board. 

All along, some tour officials and players expressed doubts that the complete framework could be hammered out by Monday, but the tour needs to implement the plan before the start of the 2009 season since the regular-season points awarded for individual tournaments stand to be affected. 

“While the proposed framework was favorably received by the Policy Board, no action was taken pending further review and discussion with sponsors, network media partners and players,” tour communications chief Ty Votaw said in a statement Monday night. “The Policy Board will reconvene via teleconference, at which time final approval will be sought. Final action is expected prior to Thanksgiving.”

The board received the idea of reduced fields and a system rigged to protect those big free-market loving stars so favorably, they tabled it for more discussion.  

Commissioner Pelosi, errrr...Finchem, makes $5 million a year to not bring these things to the table without the necessary votes. Of course the mavericks who stepped up here are not exactly going out on a limb. Reduced fields upset the rank-and-file and make for lousy television since they produce an unusually high number of runaway winners (tune into a WGC for evidence of that). You'd just like to think the Commissioner would realize that before presenting a plan.

But worse than that blind spot is the decision to ignore momentum building for a bold Tour Championship conclusion. If ever there was a time to take a chance--dismal ratings, nervous sponsors, two straight FedEx flops--isn't this it? 

"They kind of jammed it down our throats"

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John Hawkins gives us a few more details on the FedEx Cup fix, and while we're back to just one points reset compared to what was reported yesterday, it's still not even close to the change any fan could ask for. It remains unimaginative and devoid of any personality. But at least they really fleshed out the ideas with the players:

When the 16-man Player Advisory Council gathered on a teleconference Tuesday to discuss changes in the format, it quickly realized the tour, as is often the case, already had determined a plan of action and wouldn't be holding a forum to solicit new ideas, which many of these guys definitely have.

"They kind of jammed it down our throats," said one veteran. Added Tom Pernice Jr., who has served on both the PAC and PGA Tour Policy Board: "It sounded like Tim [commissioner Finchem] and his staff had decided which direction they're going to go." When I relayed Pernice's thoughts to Joe Ogilvie, a board member whom many players consider their strongest voice of reason, he replied, "I would say Tom is pretty accurate on that."

Just one big happy family.

Time for some common sense. "Say what you want about Donald Trump, but he had 20 million people watching 'The Apprentice' and the winner was given a $175,000 job for one year," Ogilvie says. "We've got 2.2 million people watching and the winner gets $10 million. We've got to turn this thing into an event. The golf tournament would still be the focus, but we're almost too traditionalistic in the way we go about things."

I think that's a nice way of saying unimaginative.

Anyway, here's the "fix":

The tour's '09 proposal, if you still care, is to move the regular-season realignment back three weeks, meaning the adjustment of point totals would occur before the start of the Tour Championship.

Hawkins concludes:

Otherwise, what was conceived two years ago as the tour's big-bang finish will remain a hamburger on a bun in a steakhouse where the shrimp cocktail costs $80. No mustard, no ketchup, no cause for excitement, no reason to put off mowing the lawn until after Woods finishes birdie-birdie-birdie to beat Mr. Underdog, 1 up. Call it what you want, but until someone grabs the dynamite, or even a handful of firecrackers, the playoff series can't be described as anything more than a proverbial work in progress. 

 

PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Fix Looks To Make BCS, Chase Look Positively Brilliant

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Rex Hoggard reports that the PGA Tour has come up with its FedEx Cup fix and as you might imagine, it's pitiful on a level that even a conoisseur of unimaginative Tour initiatives finds astonishing.

Most agreed the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup needed fixing after the second edition of the circuit’s playoffs produced another anticlimactic finish and a Tour Championship without the likes of Padraig Harrington. At the Children’s Miracle Network Classic, players got a glimpse at the Tour’s possible solution.

Well, actually many said it needed fixing after year one and a few others noted that it was broken before the even started. Nonetheless, there is some good news. The playoffs will start at the top 125 instead of the top 144, which only about 400 writers suggested never made sense. Hoggard says points will be "recalibrated" just like in previous years.

Now remember the Harrington reference by Hoggard. It's driving this madness.

The top 90 after the playoff opener would advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship, down from 120, followed by the top 60, down from 70, earning spots at the BMW Championship.

The top 30 points earners will advance to the Tour Championship, and the points will be reset to assure that all 30 players have a mathematical chance to win the season-long race.

“It’s a nice medium between what we had in 2007 and 2008,” said Zach Johnson, one of four player directors on the Policy Board.

Oh yes, it's medium.

So you read that right. They are proposing not one, but two points resets! You know, because fans have been clamoring for even more number-crunching and countless explanations from Dan Hicks. Oh and more graphics too!

While the plan seems to be a work in progress, many PAC members didn’t expect much to change before the final version is submitted to the Policy Board.

“It seems like (the Tour) always comes to us with ‘X’ and we talk about it and suggest ‘Y,’ but they never really consider ‘Y,’” said one longtime PAC member who requested he not be identified.

A head-to-head, winner-take-all shootout, possibly a match-play event between the top players after the Tour Championship, had been suggested but was not part of the Tour’s proposal.

“That really doesn’t work, because TV and the sponsors don’t want to see Brett Quigley playing Omar Uresti for the championship,’’ Quigley said. “You just never know with match play. They want the top players.”

First of all, the winner-take-all concepts as proposed by yours truly, or the more recent idea picking up steam, never called for match play.  Instead, it has been suggested ad nauseum that a final day with 4 or 8 players teeing it up with $10 million on the line might attract just a bit of attention. So if the final day group is determined by the final FedEx Cup points tally, the chances of a Quigley-Uresti showdown is pretty slim, but let's say that happens and there is $10 million on the line. Who cares? They are playing for $10 million!

Yet here we are in year three and the PGA Tour brass is tacking on more complicated points permuations and getting even further away from a true playoff. Can someone please tell me how all of these free-marketeering, independent contracting, survival-of-the-fittest Darwinists, macho lovers of democratic competition, can be so terrified of a true playoff?

I know, I know, so we can get the stars like Harrington to East Lake, even if he misses two cuts. Brilliant.

FedEx Cup Fix Update!

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Doug Ferguson looks at the 54-hole cut policy that only has one serious detractor in Charles Warren, and which has been successful in helping lighten the load for Sunday play. He also shares this on the FedEx Cup fix in the works. Naturally, it's drifting close to the ADT (RIP) model some of us love.

One solution that appears to be getting a lot of attention is not to reset the points until the Tour Championship, which could mean any of the 30 players at East Lake would have a chance to win. Plus, it would be decided over 72 holes and protect the integrity of the competition.

A decision is not expected for another month at the earliest. 

"There are a number of ideas on the table"

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Steve Elling says that Tim Finchem is going before the PAC board in Vegas to lay out FedEx Cup possibilities. SInce he's gotten it wrong so far, why not let him fix this problem.

Even by Vegas standards, where chaos is a nightly and desired occurrence, that sounds like a potentially frenetic panel discussion, eh? Let's see, that's 20 golfers arguing over a half-dozen completely different points plans, which sounds like an exchange of flying elbows and opinions not seen since the tour last served free sushi at the media buffet table.
Interestingly, I was incorrect in guessing that the best case alternative was being quietly pushed by the Tour's media folks. I should not have given them so much credit for (A) a good idea, and (B) having the ability to sway writers into reporting it as a likely alternative. Elling reveals the source:
The Chamblee model: First espoused by Golf Channel analyst and former tour player Brandel Chamblee, his spin calls for the 72-hole stroke-play event to be staged to end on Saturday, with an 18-hole shootout for the $10 million held the following day featuring a handful of the top points earners. This plan ensures that the 72-hole tournament isn't diminished and creates additional drama Sunday, although if one player goes low, it risks being a runaway no matter what the tour does. Moreover, if a player finishes eighth in each of the four FedEx events and qualifies for the Sunday shootout, then fires a 65 and wins, does that player truly deserve the $10 million? If four players make the Sunday final, the difference between first and fourth could be a couple of shots -- and a difference of $8.5 million in bonus money. Is that fair? "Do we really want to go that route?" Dennis asked. "I don't know."

The Chamblee model is the Tour's best alternative at this point because it (A) guarantees a must see Sunday, which has always been a must, (B) allows them to do something different than the LPGA even though the ADT Championship model would be far more rivetting and memorable, and (C) did I mention that this allows them to do something different than what the LPGA does to end their season?

Naturally, Finchem in a room with mostly guys who are good at their job because they dont' think too much could be dangerous. Still, it'd be fun to listen in!

"How to fix the FedEx Cup playoffs and ensure drama at the playoff finale?"

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This concept has popped up again, meaning someone at the PGA Tour is doing a good job peddling it. Jeff Rude writes:

The best plan: Play the Tour Championship on Wednesday-Saturday and award the tournament winner the trophy and $1.26 million check. Then the top four players in FedEx Cup points at that point start from scratch and play 18 holes Sunday for the current mega-bonuses, including $10 million for first.

"In the shootout scenario..."

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Tim Rosaforte analyzes the state of the FedEx Cup and reports that the PGA Tour is looking hard at some sort of format guaranteeing a grand finale on Sunday at East Lake. Why it took them two years to figure this out, I don't know. Here's what he confirms they are considering, first noted by John Hawkins:

As reported last weekend on golfworld.com, one of the alternatives is an 18-hole shootout among the top four to eight players in the standings. "The fundamental is we know it needs to finish this week," Finchem said, meaning not four weeks earlier, when Singh effectively locked up the Cup by winning the Deutsche Bank Championship on the heels of The Barclays.

In the shootout scenario, the Tour Championship would begin Wednesday and conclude Saturday, leaving Sunday open for the last men standing to play one round of stroke play for a whole lot of money. "In theory, it's a pretty good concept," said Joe Ogilvie, a member of the tour's policy board. 

Here's the problem: the only way this makes sense is as a way to create a gurantee while not doing something closely resembling the LPGA's ADT Championship. Not surprising, but still pitiful.

For a bunch of free marketeer independent contractors, the players and Tour execs sure want to control and worship those points earners until the very end.  Why? To give us a "deserving" champion.

A free-for-all playoff, with eliminations on Friday and Saturday would be way too bold, interesting and potentially thrilling. But totally unpredictable, which scares these people way too much.

The Tour should use the ADT concept of a true day-to-day playoff, but instead, play 36-holes Sunday for the big prize.

Hawkins: PGA Tour May Be Open To Good Idea!

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It's one thing for a cerebral tour player like Joe Ogilvie to be coming around on the brilliant FedEx Cup fix proposed by yours truly last year in Golf World.

But to see a media colleague, one who is a star and a man who doesn't have to write back-of-the-magazine notes, now taking the same view? it's heartwarming in ways I never imagined.

John Hawkins in this week's Golf World on GolfDigest.com:

One logical and recently discussed scenario involves an 18-hole shootout among the top four to eight players in the standings. The Tour Championship would begin on Wednesday and conclude on Saturday, leaving Sunday open for the last men standing to play one round of stroke-play golf for a whole lot of money. "In theory, it's a pretty good concept," says Joe Ogilvie, a member of the tour's policy board.

Votaw acknowledges the shootout as an option and adds, "It may seem alluring in some respects. We may come up with a better idea or receive feedback that leads us in another direction."
Cruel of Hawkins to have put the question to the PGA Tour's Ty Votaw, who oversaw the creation of the LPGA's similar ADT Championship. That said, isn't it wonderful to see that after hitting rock bottom, they might consider something that people actually want to watch. My heart is warming so much, I have to go now.

Before I do, about those ratings...
Saturday's third round on NBC had an overnight Nielsen rating of 1.3, down 46.4% from last year's 2.8 (that turned out to be a 2.6 in the final rating).

Sunday's fourth round had an overnight rating of 1.8, down 54.5% from last year's 3.3 (a 3.0 final rating).

Cumulative Scoring!?

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We're about to start getting some whacky suggestions for the broken FedEx Cup, and while I've heard lots of fun stuff about the not very original idea I proposed last year and argued about with Steve Dennis this year, SI's Gary Van Sickle raises the loopiest idea yet. This is in an interview with Dennis, who doesn't sound like he's buying it either.

After all, how do you try to win a tournament each week when you are also worrying about your cumulative score?

Vijay Becomes First To Win FedEx Cup Without Winning Tour Championship

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Granted, it was year two, but the worst traditions have to start some place.

Bob Harig at ESPN.com:

Meanwhile, Singh was being congratulated on his $10 million haul despite never breaking 70 during four rounds, never contending for the tournament title and finishing tied for 22nd. With an hour to go in the tournament, Singh was collecting the hardware from PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem in a strange, made-for-TV ceremony.

That scenario was always a danger in this new-fangled system that has the PGA Tour crowning a season-long champion on the same day it gives a trophy to the winner of one of its supposedly prestigious tournaments.

What happens when the winner of the FedEx Cup is not the winner of the Tour Championship?
Steve Elling at CBSSports.com on the oddity of Camillo Villegas winning just as many playoff events as Vijay, including the final event, and coming away the runner up:
Had the rest of the four-week playoff series played out the same way, Villegas could have won the first-place $10 million had he not missed the cut at The Barclays, the FedEx opener, by one thin shot. In fact, had he just played on the weekend, he could have finished dead last among those who made the cut and still earned enough points to ultimately slide past Singh into first place at the end of the rainbow, assuming all things remained equal elsewhere.

Breaking it down, Singh won the first two FedEx events and Villegas won the last two. At the second, won by Singh in Boston, Villegas played in the final group and finished tied for third. In other words, throw out the missed cut and he arguably outplayed Singh over four weeks. Singh, who was T44 and T22 in his last two starts, just didn't miss a cut and scored points at all four venues.

Villegas didn't much want to talk about the details.

"That was an expensive cut," he said. "That's the way this game goes. If I knew that was the case, I don't know what I would have done different. But you've just got to be in the present.

"Again, the FedEx Cup, it's great for the game. We need to get the points system better, and I'm not saying this because I finished second. I've been saying this since Day 1. I had a chance to sit down with the commissioner this Wednesday and share some ideas.

"We just need to make it fun for the fans and fun for us. So FedEx has done a great job in putting all this together, and I'm sure the tour is grinding and trying to get it as good as they can."

For a defective product, it was as good as could be expected.

"We've got to have a climactic finish"

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I've been a little busy and the Ryder Cup was just too good to let go of, so I haven't read Tim Finchem's press conference very closely but it looks like he was in one of his more long-winded modes, and we know how well that usually turns out.

I did see this from Doug Ferguson regarding the FedEx Cup.

Finchem said he expects a good week and big crowd, and it helps that Saturday's round will be played early, so as not to conflict with the NBC broadcast of Notre Dame football. Thankfully, Georgia plays Alabama on Saturday night.
In the meantime, he said changes to the FedEx Cup appear imminent.
``We've got to have a climactic finish,'' Finchem said. ``It's going to build to a finish.''

That's why he makes $5 million a year. It only took two years for him to figure that out.