ESPN Golf

ATLANTA -- Brace yourselves, golf fans. Sit down, take a deep breath, clear your mind. I'm about to type words that have never before been strung together in succession. Here goes nothing: The FedEx Cup is a success.

Discuss the complaints and consternations, the cynicism and criticism about the new format all you'd like. I'm going to take the high road. Or the low road. Whichever one best describes Alston Drive, the thick slab of pavement that leads directly to the front gates at East Lake Golf Club. It's the street on which Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both drove -- not together, mind you -- en route to the Tour Championship this week. And the one they both eluded a year ago.

And therein lies the essence of my argument. Last November, when this tournament followed an interminable 10½-month-long PGA Tour season, the two guys who put fannies in the bleachers and in front of TVs determined it was in their best interests to stay home. It was an annual tradition in the later stages of each year: The leaves change colors, the weather grows colder and the best golfers quit playing golf.

Noting that the PGA Tour schedule has undergone a little reformation is akin to saying Star Jones has lost a few pounds. Woods and Mickelson had each called for a shorter season and, finally, like a genie emerging from a lamp, commissioner Tim Finchem granted their wish, leaving us with a schedule that no longer ends with a thud. No more fall fadeaways from the big guns, no more going into hibernation when the school year started and football season kicked in.

"This is an event that Tiger and Phil have chosen to skip some of the previous years," said Steve Stricker, who's currently second in the points standings. "We saw in every tournament the great fields, starting with The Barclays and Deutsche Bank and last week in Chicago. Every tournament has had great fields, and I think that shows you right there that it's working. I mean, guys are wanting to play in this. They're trying to win it. Even though there's been a lot of criticism on both ends, players and the media, I think when you look back at these four events, I think it's been a success."

As the fourth and final installment of the inaugural FedEx Cup, the Tour Championship may not be the Super Bowl that PGA Tour brass would like, but it's hardly the play-if-you-feel-like-it all-star game it had developed into over the past 20 years, either. Instead of hangin' at home, the dynamic duo -- along with the world's other top players -- is actually competing. Whether what they're competing for is meaningful or not remains subject for debate, but it's a debate that wasn't taking place prior to this season.

Other than the Ryder Cup, golf was hardly a blip on the sports fan's radar screen after the PGA Championship in August. For those who belittle what the FedEx Cup has done for late-season golf, I counter with this: What tournament was being played exactly one year ago this week? And who won? And how much of it did you watch? (The answers: 84 Lumber Classic, Ben Curtis and not one bloody minute.)

Lucky for us, this week's 30-man field features each of the world's top 13 golfers, according to the Official World Golf Ranking. It's the culmination of a postseason schedule that has contained a valiant victory by longtime nice guy Stricker over K.J. Choi at The Barclays, Mickelson's first-ever defeat of Woods in a head-to-head final-round pairing at the Deutsche Bank Championship and a vintage Tiger performance on Sunday at the BMW Championship, where he shot a bogey-free 63.

Are there issues with the FedEx Cup? Oh yeah, definitely. Lots of 'em. The word "playoffs" is a false signature of what the end-of-season race has become. (Don't be surprised to see more appropriate phrases like "series" or "chase" associated with this next year.) The points system is inane, featuring a numerical format that could leave MIT math professors befuddled. (The regular-season leader totaled more than 30,000 points, which was then reset to 100,000 prior to the final four events? Sweet! Let me grab my abacus and follow the action!)

There's more: The PGA Tour has beaten fans senseless with its excessive promotion of this so-called "new era in golf." The fact that only a handful of players have a chance to claim the grand prize entering the final week can be discouraging. And having four tournaments east of the Mississippi has alienated a huge legion -- and region -- of fans.

All are certainly viable complaints that have merit. And all can be altered in future editions of the FedEx Cup. Give it time, folks. But I'm not talking semantics here; I'm talking big-picture, long-term conceptual stuff -- and the evidence is in place that it's a major upgrade for both players and fans.

"The reason that I think it's been successful is that we've had incredible attendance by all the players, I mean, like a 98 percent attendance rate," said Mickelson, one of five players, along with Woods, Stricker, Choi and Rory Sabbatini, who can claim the $10 million first-place bonus this week. "The top guys have supported it three out of four weeks, for the most part, which I don't think is a bad -- I don't think of that as bad at all. I think that's a pretty good attendance rate, and I think that we've had some great matches. We've had some great final rounds, exciting events."

Of course, the most common refrain from those both disinterested and disenchanted remains this: "The FedEx Cup will never be as important as any of the four majors!" To which I say: "Duh!" In related news, pistachio ice cream is never going to crack the regal Neapolitan lineup of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, but that doesn't mean we have to let it melt on the kitchen counter, does it?

After all, trumping the major championships was never a goal of the PGA Tour, which -- oh, by the way -- isn't the governing body over any of the four. Instead, the ambition was to provide a more entertaining late-season schedule that provided fans with additional opportunities to watch the world's best players, while granting them additional opportunities to rest during the offseason. Mission accomplished.

Is the FedEx Cup perfect? Not by a long shot. Can it be deemed a success? Absolutely.

Jason Sobel is ESPN.com's golf editor. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn3.com