"Uptick" In Major Medical Exemptions On Finchem's Radar

Maybe he bought a few days of sympathy with his comedy work and charitable ways, but I finally got around to reading Commissioner Letterman's State Of The Playoffs presser at Ridgewood. While the Dustin Johnson topic avoidance turned him into a virtual mute, there were other moments worth noting.

Jim McCabe did a nice job summarizing the key points. The only real surprise came with some budging by the Commish on the topic of playing opportunities for up-and-coming players. Many are blocked by the better-athletes than yesteryear, so good they are suffering major injuries and milking the "major medical" exemption category.

McCabe writes:

This year, 19 players who fell into the “major medical category” wound up playing in a combined 262 tournaments. (Six of those 19 regained their full status.) In some ways, that contributed to the lack of playing opportunities for those at the bottom of the Web.Com Tour Finals list. Finchem conceded that the major medical list, while necessary, perhaps needs tweaking.

“We have been looking at that category. We have had an uptick (more players on the list) and it was put some pressure on the access to the Web.com Tour players. We are just evaluating it.”

In other words: If players are in better shape than ever before, why are so many of them hurt? The Tour would like to find the answer.

I'm pretty sure when I speak for most of us when I say that outside of immediate friends and family, most don't care about the playing opportunities of golf professionals. However, when so many young players are not able to get enough starts or into a nice enough flow to get their shot at proving playing worth as yesterday's news takes up spots, this becomes an issue about the future well being of the PGA Tour.