Tiger Takes Day Off; Falls In FedEx Cup Standings *

Now, I know the team at PGATOUR.com is doing their job and doing it amazingly well to keep on top of FedEx Cup scenarios, but look at this disaster of points breakdowns, scenarios, permutations and other nonsense.

Look, I get it that you want to reward the season and playoff play. But the most recent points reset really undermines that argument. If you have to gerrymand the FedEx Cup finish, then it'll never be taken seriously. Never!

Why are all these tough-guy, free-wheeling, free-market loving gamblers associated with the PGA Tour so afraid of old-fashioned, head-to-head, no points stuff, true playoff play at East Lake? Would it be too stressful?

Update on 2009-09-15 15:56 by Geoff

* John Strege agrees that the above information reminds us that the only way to fix the FedEx Cup is to use the old ADT Championship format for the four days at East Lake. You all know I've been campaigning for that since the start.

"Finchem's minions were apparently hard at work pressuring host broadcaster NBC into not mentioning just how many Fed-Ex Cup points the Swede picked up"

John Huggan with this nugget from last week's Players:

Not only did the diminutive leader of the world's richest circuit manage to mangle the champion's name, calling him "Heinrik" more than once, Finchem's minions were apparently hard at work pressuring host broadcaster NBC into not mentioning just how many Fed-Ex Cup points the Swede picked up along with the $1.7million first place cheque. Embarrassingly, that number is nil, due to the fact that Stenson (who will no doubt have welcomed the sizeable boost to his bank balance in the wake of losing a goodly chunk of his fortune amidst the recent Stanford fiasco) thinks he can muddle by without being a PGA Tour member.

"Either make it a true playoff, or call it something else."

You know the FedEx Cup is a still a mess when Peter Kostis, who has to pretend to like it on the air for CBS, doesn't hold back on golf.com:

Two years ago we were told that the FedEx Cup Playoffs were going to ensure exciting, meaningful events at the end of the season and culminate in a riveting conclusion at the Tour Championship. And for the second time since, the PGA Tour was forced to go back to the drawing board and modify the points system after the Tour Championship was made meaningless. For 2009, the point totals for each player who makes it to the Tour Championship will be reshuffled on the eve of the event.

They just don't get it. You can't call something a "playoff" if you are trying to protect the players who had a strong season while simultaneously giving everyone in the field a chance to win. Either make it a true playoff, or call it something else.

"Coming into the Playoffs with 1,600 points or so, which the top 8-10 players likely will have, should guarantee passage to Atlanta."

Steve Dennis permutates us through the possible ways that the PGA Tour's finest can get to East Lake. Reading the latest breakdown of FedEd Cup scenarios, all I could think was, it sure is amazing what hard work it is to keep the rich guys rich! And then somehow I accidentally landed at Wikipedia's page devoted to defining Ponzi scheme. Just a coincidence.

"Parts of the bossman's answer were tougher to track than a balata ball bouncing through a blacktop parking lot."

A day after the unveiling of the latest FedEx Cup, Steve Elling has been thinking about the bizarre notion that a player can skip a playoff event and still win the thing. It's a FedEx Cup tradition, Steve. Come on!

As he unveiled the new points program Tuesday night, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was innocently asked whether players would be required to make all four starts in order to take home the richest bonus in golf. Even for a spin-control artiste, parts of the bossman's answer were tougher to track than a balata ball bouncing through a blacktop parking lot.

"I wouldn't say it can't happen, but I think the incentives are there that it's more and more important as you go on," Finchem said of the Cup schedule. "So, yeah, you need to play. Of course, our role is to put the best product out there, and hope that players believe in it and want to take advantage of it, and I think that's what we'll see in '09."

Need is a relative term, as it turns out.

"So for all those reasons, we stuck with the basic structure."

I joined the hastily arranged Tim Finchem conference call to hear about the latest FedEx Cup iteration. Now, before we get to the remarks and commentary, I have to say I was prepared to ask the Commissioner a question. But I just couldn't shake myself out of the deep trance he lulled me. Frankly, I don't know how all of the VP's down in PV get through staff meetings. I had to take a 20 minute siesta as soon as they said goodbye.

Anyway, there wasn't much worth reading from his give and take, though it was wonderful to hear the slight pause before remembering to call it The Tour Championship...presented by Coca Cola.

Doug Ferguson asked about the shootout concepts. After a droning on a bit, the Commish said:

So you once we figured out ways to accomplish that, we were not persuaded by moving further to rebuild something we thought was working. We had a great year in '07 and a good year in '08.

Sure.

So that said, as you look at some of the things that you're referring to, also our concern was that most of them went in the direction of taking away the value of what happens all during the year and the playoffs.

We still like the basic concept that you still have a home-field advantage if you, at the top coming out of the regular season, you carry a bit of a home-field advantage into the playoffs. If you play well enough to keep that, you have a home-field advantage going in.

Ah, as a conoisseur of euphemisms, this had to rank as a favorite. Padding and gerrymandering points to "protect" the season long race is just a matter of protecting that home-field advantage. Got to hand it to the Commish, that's a clever one.

The Angels sure wish home-field advantage got them to the World Series this year without having to work too hard!

Continue...

Also, the basic premise that something this important should be decided over 72 holes and not a shootout.

Whoa there...something this important? It's not a major, it's entertainment. I guess importance trumps fun, yet again.

We had a match play interest, and we liked the 72-hole format, and we liked the idea of making Atlanta and building it and continuing to build it into something very special. So for all those reasons, we stuck with the basic structure.

Until next year after another ratings dud.

As for the reaction from scribblers who weren't comatose from the call, Bob Harig covers the failure of the shootout concept to take hold:

The tour is into rewarding players for their body of work over the course of the year. And those in charge couldn't quite stomach the idea of a fluky finish deciding who gets $10 million.

"There were a lot of concerns with that,'' said PGA Tour veteran Tom Pernice, a member of the tour's Players Advisory Council. "Guys might only be worried about getting into the Tour Championship and not moving up. They could skip the playoffs.''

I'm betting they still will. It's just not that important to the big boys.

because as Ferguson notes in his AP story, there's still a typical-Tiger-year loophole:

Even with the change, Woods could have the kind of year he had in 2007 - five wins and a major before the playoffs - and still skip the opening event without doing too much damage to his chances of winning the FedEx Cup.

Steve Elling offers a few "first blush" comments and raises this vital point about field size.

First blush: Short-field events are risky and never seem to deliver the crowds and buzz of full-sized tournaments. NASCAR stages its Sprint Cup events within full-field races in the fall, keeping track of its 12-driver Sprint points on the side, but tour players seem to think culled fields is more compelling. Again, the tour could track FedEx Cup points within more interesting full-field formats, but nobody wants to hear it.

No Steve, something this important should be played by as few people as possible!