Reset Cup's Most Important Week...To Players And Immediate Family

I admire Doug Ferguson's determination to show us just how important the FedExCup is to players in this story filed on the BMW Championship's eve. Unfortunately, the player quotes reveal the fundamental flaw with the "playoffs." They are not fan-friendly.

"This is the biggest one," said Pat Perez, who checks in at No. 55 and is somewhat of a long shot to get to East Lake. "The biggest prize to me is top 30. The $10 million is nice, but it's only for one guy. I'd like to be in the top 30 because then I'm in everything. I'd have a chance to win majors. And that's what you need - a chance.

"If I could never win the FedEx Cup but knew I would be top 30 for the next 10 years? Sign me up."

The BMW is the most important of the playoffs because of the exemptions at stake. Reaching the top 30 here, fueled by a convoluted points system which absurdly over-values the playoff weeks, does make this week important for 2013, yes. But reasonable or interesting?

As evidenced by another week of not receiving a press release in my inbox touting television ratings, the playoffs do not appear to be "important" to fans.  The continued quiet on the network telecast ratings front would seem to confirm that. Or maybe it's just not that brilliant to bring the top players together for three weeks of golf when football season is starting and folks are distracted by too many other things.

Oh and there was Tiger's latest put down of the cup, as quoted in this Jay Coffin roundup of today's presser:

The goal this week regarding FedEx Cup positioning: “This is a different format that I’ve played the FedEx Cup. I didn’t play last year. I wasn’t even in the damned thing, so it’s nice to be here and be able to contend in this thing. It’s interesting, you can go and win the first three playoff events, finish second in the last one and not win it. But it’s what we have.”