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Does the PGA Tour Care About The Fedex Cup?
Ryan Ballengee at Sports Central has a column with an interesting premise: that the PGA Tour doesn’t really care about the Fedex Cup.
The cynic in me has seen this trend and it has led me to an even scarier question — does the PGA Tour even care about the FedEx Cup? Think about it for a moment. For as much as I would like to think journalists and fans had a hand in the FedEx Cup coming to fruition, it was really the vocal complaints of Tiger Woods about season length and providing meaning to it that caused this points race to be instituted. The Tour recognized one of Tiger’s demands and they succumbed to it in order to placate him. If you can accept that as the true reason for the FedEx Cup, then the PGA Tour developed the concept as a way of keeping some players happy, not a method of revolutionizing how the Tour is perceived.
I think that the Tour does care, and that all of Ballengee’s observations (complaints?) are simply signs of a program in the midst of initial growing pains. The number of players who get into the tournament will likely be reduced in the future and the Tour will get better at promoting it. As for getting the media on board, well, that will take time. But most announcers are such unabashed cheerleaders that they’ll soon be on the bandwagon.
I think the biggest question for the future of the Fedex Cup is whether Tiger will continue to participate. Four tournaments in a row—even for a $10 million payout—just isn’t his modus operandi. I can see him winning the first—and maybe the second—and then sitting them out in the future.
Another possibility: could Tiger, or another player, by the time the tournament starts, have enough points to essentially get a bye in the first round. And could such a player have enough points to still be in the hunt—even after skipping a round?
I wonder.
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I agree with regards to players sitting out the FedEx Cup tournaments in the future. Money alone isn’t going to buy player participation. Unless there is some prestige or meaning to it, it’ll become the “Skins Game.” A novelty that isn’t a must to play in, and isn’t a must to watch.
Posted by Brian Yamabe on 05/10
I also think some players just aren’t going to participate when it gets down to the playoffs. If Tiger and Phil don’t play in the Tour Championship or the Mercedes Benz Championship at the end and the beginning of the year, then they aren’t going to show up just because it’s the fed ex cup. If they don’t want to play, they won’t.
But as for the Tour and how it feels about the Fed Ex Cup, I think it does care. And if Tiger and Phil don’t participate in the playoffs, then you’ll probably hear a lot of interesting comments from Tim Finchem. I don’t think he’ll pull any punches after creating the whole system to make Tiger and Phil happy with a shorter season.
Posted by Miranda on 05/10
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