The Worst Thing About The FedEx Cup?

FedEx Cup groveling seems pointless these days since (A) the PGA Tour will not admit what a convoluted mess they've created, (B) the likeliehood of FedEx returning after 2012 doesn't seem great, and (C) the opportunity to have created something water-cooler worthy seems to be the last thing the risk-averse legion of play-it-safe VP's would ever consider.

Still, a couple of writers this week remind us that no matter how lame the points system and its various reshufflings may seem, the real crime of the current points system is what it does to major fields.  Gary Van Sickle for golf.com, labeling this component a travesty:

The top 30 on the FedEx Cup points list make it to Atlanta and into the first three majors next year. That means guys who had awful years but one good playoff week — like Kevin Streelman — are now in the Masters while players who had better seasons are not.

Steve Elling took it a step further on the Streelman point in this week's Up and Down column:

Caddies can be notorious gossips, walking rumor mills and grapevines rolled into a pair of khaki shorts with a golf lid on top. That doesn't mean they don't know the business, however, so when one prominent looper for a star player noted with distain that the FedEx points system still needs an enema, it was worth a listen. Specifically, the points are so skewed to reward success in the FedEx series that some players are being rewarded a bit too richly, he said. Not to put the onus on one particular guy, but veteran Kevin Streelman's name came up a few times. Streelman entered the series at No. 102 in points. He finished T3, T45 and T43 in the three FedEx events and somehow managed to advance to Atlanta, where his position in the final FedEx top 30 ensures him of berths in the first three major championships of 2011. Streelman has missed 10 of 25 cuts this year and withdrew from another event. Thus, you might say that the FedEx points are far too skewed. I might go a step farther -- screwed.

Of course, this won't stop me from making one more pitch to modify the system and make it interesting to an audience beyond PGA Tour player friends, family and accountants. I know you can't wait!