Breaking down the FedEx Cup alterations
The bad news for the folks at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.: According to a recent ESPN.com poll, 37.5 percent of respondants said the FedEx Cup format should either be blown up and sent back to the drawing board or eliminated altogether. The good news: Even more folks (44.2 percent) thought the system needed only minor adjustments entering its second season.
Well, the latter group got its wish, as it was announced on Tuesday that very few changes will be made to the 2008 schedule. The most glaring difference is that the four-event playoff format will include a bye week, resuming with the Tour Championship after the Ryder Cup. Most notably, though, is the fact that very little else was reconfigured for next season, leaving the PGA Tour with a format that closely resembles the original ... for now. Let's take a look at some of the bigger changes -- and non-changes -- to the schedule, based on commissioner Tim Finchem's memorandum to tour members.
"The Tour Championship -- the fourth and final PGA Tour playoff event -- [is] being moved back two weeks so that it will be played immediately following the Ryder Cup in 2008. This move provides a one-week gap between the third playoff event, the BMW Championship, and the Ryder Cup, so as not to adversely affect either the Ryder Cup or the Tour Championship."Upon first glance, this seems to make perfect sense. In recent months, top players were already grumbling about potentially having to compete in four high-stress events leading into the ultimate pressure cooker at the Ryder Cup. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els were among those who skipped playoff events this past season and with the team competition looming afterward next year, the tour was looking at even more players rewarding themselves with bye weeks.
Give it some closer inspection, however, and you've got to wonder how much momentum the FedEx Cup will lose by having 17 full days off between the time the final putt drops at the BMW and the first tee is stuck into the ground at East Lake. As much as the tour would like to think of the Tour Championship as its Super Bowl, the NFL's annual championship can more readily remain on the radar screen with a dark week prior to the big event. Will fans even remember -- or, even worse, care -- anything about the FedEx Cup after a two-and-a-half week layoff? Meanwhile, the Ryder Cup -- without dispute, a much more popular event than anything in the FedEx Cup -- will steal away some luster off the season-ending event, in effect relegating its status as the big prize at season's end. Granted, the tour was in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation here, but if the Tour Championship is supposed to be its Holy Grail (and remember, the tour isn't the governing body over the Ryder Cup or any of the four majors), then it shouldn't take a backseat to anything else.
"This situation is unique to next year and we do not anticipate the need to alter the playoffs schedule beyond 2008. The tentative schedules for 2009-2012 have built-in gaps between the Tour Championship and the corresponding team event, either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup."
"In evaluating the first year of the FedEx Cup, the Policy Board did not feel the need to make fundamental changes to the overall structure of the competition. Accordingly, no changes have been made in the points distribution in the PGA Tour regular season."
We've said it before and we'll say it again: The next time we see a couple of coworkers hanging by the watercooler discussing Woods' 3,497-point lead over the nearest competitor will be the first time. Simply put, the numbers themselves are too bulky and cumbersome to mean anything to the fans.
Our suggestion? A tourney win is worth 50 points, second place gets 25, third place 20, fourth place 17, fifth place 16, etc., down to 1 point for the 20th-place finisher. Those outside of the top 20 are shut out. This not only makes the points list more decipherable; it also places some merit in the difference between finishing 18th and 23rd, creating more drama further down the leaderboard."The Policy Board will continue to assess the point structure as it relates to the reseeding and points distribution throughout the Playoffs, in order to consider ways we might create more volatility and keep more players in contention for the FedExCup. ... We will be seeking more feedback from the PAC [Player Advisory Committee] and the membership between now and making a final determination on these matters at the February meeting."February??? As in, three months from now? As in, during the season? The PAC and the Policy Board were in constant discussions about these matters -- which also, we believe, may include whether the number of players in each playoff field will remain the same -- from season's end until now, but still couldn't come up with a worthy decision.
What's the hold up? Why not work to finalize such decisions prior to Tuesday's announcement? Instead, it seems like the tour is taking a make-up-the-rules-as-we-go-along mentality. Call us old-fashioned, but we'd like to see everything in place prior to the schedule taking effect."The Board has approved a change to the distribution of the $35 million FedEx Cup bonus pool, whereby it no longer will be 100 percent deferred. Beginning in 2008, $16.5 million in cash will be paid to the top 10 finishers and the remaining $18.5 million will be paid on a tax-deferred basis into the retirement plans of the top 150 players."
For some reason unbeknownst to us, the deferred payment in the original FedEx format drew the ire of fans, many of whom presumably wanted to see stacks of hundreds on the final green at East Lake, piled up a la the World Series of Poker. In fact, Woods and Mickelson both echoed this sentiment, saying they wouldn't mind receiving the lump sum now rather than upon retirement from the tour.
Well, the business folks in Ponte Vedra Beach listened and though there will still be some deferred payment, a large chunk will now be directly deposited into players' accounts at the conclusion of the playoffs. Players speak, the tour listens. Hmmm, seems easy enough, doesn't it? Jason Sobel is ESPN.com's golf editor. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn3.com
