"It is almost postseason time, but it is also open to debate as to just what sort of motivation that provides players."

Everyone has their own barometer for the arrival of fall. Maybe it's the sun at a little lower angle or a simple glimpse of the sun if you happen to be vacationing in the Hamptons. For others, it's receiving the first of five SI covers devoted to the spellbinding world of NFL training camp coverage.

For me, it's the first FedEx Cup bashing column.

Jim McCabe kicks off this favorite fall tradition by pointing out that players are not really playing more to get themselves in the hunt for East Lake and the finale.

It is almost postseason time, but it is also open to debate as to just what sort of motivation that provides players. Consider, for instance, the playoff push these marquee names have unleashed:

• Garcia has played in 11 PGA Tour tournaments this year, including just five of the past 13 weeks.

• Scott has played 14 times, but just three of the past nine.

• Els has 13 tournaments to his PGA Tour credit, but only four of the past 13.

That’s not exactly a sense of urgency resonating, is it?

Well, right. Except this fascination with the “limited-field” concept has led officials to trim back the Barclays to 125 from 144, the Deutsche Bank from 120 to 100, while BMW stays at 70 and Tour Championship at 30. If that were supposed to inject playoff mentality into the drama, what it has seemingly done is ensure that a lot of crowd-pleasing names won’t be there. Granted, the Tour never could have imagined that so many great names would play like journeymen for months at a time, but any tournament director will tell you that having 144 players is more consumer-friendly when you’re dressing up a 200-acre stage and trying to bring in tens of thousands for day-long golf.