"They kind of jammed it down our throats"

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.