steinthal
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08:02:07 am on January 24, 2008 | # |
The PGA Tour season starts today in San Diego with the Buick Invitational. It is great to have the tour back.
What?
There have been other events already?
Where?
Who played in them? Certainly not Tiger Woods.
Oh, that explains it…
Let me start again…
The PGA Tour season, entering its 4th week, finally gets off to a real start as Tiger has decided to play. If you doubt me, check out the numbers. Yup, just by having Tiger play improved the TV ratings by 111%. Not to shabby Tiger.
This got me thinking of the FedEx Cup, which is entering into its second year, and, IMHO, is in dire need of improvement. Tiger skipped the 1st playoff event, and still won. Phil Mickelson skipped the second event, and still came in third. Seriously. What gives?
The PGA is angry that Tiger skipped the first event, and might move that tournament as a result.
Isn’t that the wrong way to fix the problem? Moving the tournament is no guarantee that Tiger will come. After the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, Tiger will likely want several weeks off to recuperate. He’s certainly set that precedent.
Why not fix the FedEx Cup by changing it in some way? I have two proposed changes that with some tweaking in the numbers addresses the ratings problem the PGA has when Tiger does not play, and puts some teeth in the FedEx Cup:
(1) Skip a regular season event, and lose some FedEx points. For argument sake, let’s use 1000. So, Tiger would be at -4000 today instead of at 0. If he skips tournaments as he normally does, he’ll face some hefty consequence in the standings. There will be an increased cost to not playing beyond the loss of the opportunity to gain points.
(2) Skip a playoff event, and you are out of the playoffs. Right now, the only penalty for skipping a playoff event is not getting any points. The point system for the playoffs could be structured that if you miss a cut or skip an event you are out, and then if you are not in the top X players (144, 70, and 30 as the events proceed), you are out.
Will the PGA do this? No chance. Why? Quite simply, if they will move tournaments to fit Tiger’s schedule, as they have proven they will do, they wont risk him simply saying he’s not interested in their playoffs. The FedEx Cup will become a complete joke if the world’s best players are not part of it. If Tiger thinks the FedEx Cup isn’t worth his bother, there will be no FedEx Cup…
So, enjoy the PGA Tour season starting today in San Diego with the Buick Invitational. It is really great to have the tour back.
