PGA Tour: FedEx Finale: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Still not sure PGA Tour Towers has got this notion of a totally blank week right. Three exciting tournaments in the books at Bethpage, TPC Boston and Crooked Stick and . . . . . then what? A bit like building up a four-Test Ashes Series to an eagerly awaited Fifth Test winner-take-all finale . . . . . . . which is delayed for a month. Completely agree the players could use a break - would much rather see it betwen Rounds 2 and 3.

2).Dear PGA Of America,
Thank you for giving golf fans something for fans to be interested in with all the chat about the Ryder Cup.
Love,
Timmy F

3).And there's been lots of rhetoric about the Ryder Cup, Davis's "picks", the Medinah course, etc, etc. Some of it on here of course, with conflicting views about golfing stereotypes by Continent, usually about American bombers, European chipping and pitching prowess versus American flop-shots.
According to Jaime Diaz in GolfWorld, Medinah's rough has been been given a haircut, widening fairways and making wayward drives less heavily punished, allegedly a la Azinger's Valhalla set-up in 2008.

4).Not sure if I subscribe to the notion that Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson are significantly longer than Colsaerts and McIlroy; would have thought it would be more relevant to consider who might actually be playing the most matches. Still, Davis promises a US Open course with a PGA Tour set up, fast greens and birdies a-plenty.

5).Woods and Stricker, Mickelson and Bradley, Simpson and Watson are suggested as likely opening pairings, but reality is that each team depends heavily on its best players; in particular, I would suggest that if Garcia and Westwood play in ten days' time as they did at Valhalla, the European goose will be cooked. Long-range projections of key players: How about Jason Dufner and Peter Hanson?
And, if I was Jose-Maria, I'd be tempted to bring the wildly entertaining Pablo Larrazabal to drive my cart. That would warm up the Chicago crowd.

6).But this week will be all about FedEx's $10 million! Sure part of Rory feels as if he's already done enough to deserve the jackpot but blame Vijay Singh (and his two-tournament walkabout in 2008 with the winnings already secured) for the changes that mean he has to earn the FedEx Cup all over again. In reality, one would bet that if he can finish ahead of Woods, Watney, Mickelson and Snedeker the rest will look after itself and he'll be $10M richer.
To quote Alf Ramsey: "You've won it once, go and do it again."

7).A $10M FedEx bonus would lift Rory to the top of the list of European bonus beneficiaries during the six years of FedEx fun. This list currently looks like:
1).Luke Donald: $4,410K + 2012 winnings, at least $175K
2).Sergio Garcia: $2,757K + at least $175K
3).Rose: $1,637.5K + at least $175K
4).Harrington: $1,293K
5).Casey: $1,027K
6).Pettersson: $619K + at least $175K
7).Laird: $717K
8).Poulter: $692K
9).Jacobson: $676K
10).Davis: $$625K

8).The media wags are tonguing that Rory may be invincible "every time the Tour goes to a big, long golfcourse that plays wet and soft with no wind". That's the caveat du jour (articulated by Gary Van Sickle but seemingly widely held) when comparing McIlroy's run with Tiger in his prime. I'll be interested in comparisons when Rors has played at this pace for at least five years, but it's nice to see credit offered to a Number One after the disparagement accorded to Donald and Westwood.
And East Lake might just fit the Rory bill; hopefully he's kept his swing nicely tuned during the week off and it's good for another two weeks.

9).In the absence of Tour excitement this past week I watched some web.com action from Idaho and a salutary reminder that last week's rising star can just as easily be this week's car crash. Aberdeen's Michael Sim and one-time hotshot Jamie Lovemark were both among the alternates who were unable to gain entry into the field. While last year's flavour of the month (June anyway) and newly-minted pro, Patrick Cantlay, failed to make the cut. Luke Guthrie took home first prize and he'll grace the PGA Tour with his presence in 2013. Anyone's guess whether he'll be any more successful than Sim or Lovemark, though.
This week's web.com field in West Texas (Midland, Friday Night Lights country, the business home of Dubya and by all accounts a good place for him) includes Gary Christian and Russell Knox as well as Sweden's David Lingmerth and Colwyn Bay's Ben Briscoe.

10).While the Seniors were in Hawaii where Willie Wood's fairy tale summer continued when Bionic Bill Glasson (he of the 22 surgeries - so far) capitulated and his 18th hole bogey was trumped by Willie's 18th hole bird. There's been speculation about Europeans flocking over to PGA Tour Q-School (entries have to be in by Sept 26th), but I hope that one or two Seniors also wade in to Champions Tour qualifying; Barry Lane and Forsbrand were among those trying last year and it would be good to see at least one of them following in the recent footsteps of Langer and Roger Chapman, both of whom are still in the running for the Champions Tour year-end bonus.

But this week is all about the PGA Tour's rich getting richer.

Loved the ending, wonderful drama. No reason Rory or Tiger couldn't have put this away if they didn't go AWOL today (or at least one of them). And good for Rose, solo second.

Mac - As I mentioned before, major compromises to make people stay interested in the event. I understand where you are coming from, to be sure.

Now, I wonder if Sneds rides this momentum to Chicago or lets some air out? Either way, this will likely be a VERY close Ryder Cup. Faldo predicts 14/14 with Euro keeping the cup. An educated prediction IMO.

Westwood not looking good though. Hope he's mind was at Medinah already.

McLaren wrote:I still cant shake the feeling that the fedex finale is contrived. It is a bit like those leagues where someone in 4th and 15 points off the leaders can win in a championship decider match. For those who used to play champ man they will know the feeling well if you accepted a job in the j league.

I agree to a certain extent but I suppose it keeps it interesting for the Tour Championship whereby a runaway FedEx Cup leader won't necessarily win the bonus. I think an overall reset prior to Play Off event #1 would be fairer. It's a bit odd to think someone could win PO #1, #2, #3 have a mare in the final event and not win the bonus.

They should just make it 'winner takes all' in the Tour Championship. The other three should just be qualifiers/elimination rounds and then anyone of the final thirty has the same crack of the whip.

Great result last night! 40/1 he was on Thursday. Yes, the man 5th in the overall standings, in form and playing in a field of 30 was 40/1. You'd be really happy if you took an e/w nibble on that wouldnt you?

I just don’t understand why outstanding play in three events should ever be diminished? As I said earlier in the thread, surely in sport you just have to accept that sometimes someone blitzes the field? You don’t see a points reset in the EPL for the final day of the season just so more people can win.

I see the fedex as a season long event and would rather watch a finale that reflects this. Why should the short attention span of coors light drinking buffoons mean the rest of us have to watch some contrived drama?

Sadly the tour championship was a bit of a non event as soon as Moore went in the bunker on 16. For Rose it was over the moment he lost the ability to hole out from inside 5-10 feet.


PS – They mentioned on the coverage that the son of sneds coach was involved in a car accident, which resulted in brain damage. Butch Harmon said he was sure sneds would spend some of the $10 mill on caring for the guy.

I wonder, how much change do you reckon you would get out of the fedex jackpot if you paid for the lifetime care of a brain damaged individual in the US(just straight up an not through an insurance policy)?

I reckon it wouldn’t be enough!

It's not just outstanding play in three events that is being diminished. Rory, or anybody else, could win every tournament he played all season up to that point, finish 2nd in the Tour Championship and still not win the FedEx Cup. That is obviously very unlikely to ever happen but it is a possibility under the current rules.

The FedEx is extremely contrived and artificial irrespective of what excitement it may produce at times.

Gotta agree with you lot about the fed exs format.- however we must remeber that the PGA does have its own league format(money list) anyway so maybe the fed ex shouldnt be judged like the prem. It is its own format and thats that. I did enjoy the thing but it isnt a major or a ryder cup or even a wgc- even if the prize money is kinda stagering!!!

Golf is getting abit conjested these days.

I really think it needs to start again and have world tours..

mystiroakey wrote:Gotta agree with you lot about the fed exs format.- however we must remeber that the PGA does have its own league format(money list) anyway so maybe the fed ex shouldnt be judged like the prem. It is its own format and thats that. I did enjoy the thing but it isnt a major or a ryder cup or even a wgc- even if the prize money is kinda stagering!!!

Golf is getting abit conjested these days.

I really think it needs to start again and have world tours..

Aren't FedEx points going to replace the money list next year though?

Something about the following does not make sense, what is it?

You win one regular PGAT event, two play-offs and a major then another guy collects $10 million for being the best player of the season.

He wasnt the best player of the season though- he just won the fed ex.. The best player of the season in my mind would normally be the money list winner.

However i am sure that rory will be getting the most ridculas sponsership deals in the coming months(or allready has them)

The format is definitely slightly off, but not that much. Historically winning the Tour Championship didnt make you the seasons best player and nothings changed now apart from the big wedge of cash which is obscene really. They could half it and the prize would still be amazing but its more likely to go up than down.
Best player of the year could be based on a few things, most wins, most money, biggest wins or even lowest stroke average for the year though Id imagine the top money winner will be close to the top of all the lists.

yep

Rory still won a $3M bonus so lets not feel too sad for him.

I like the fact this this is practically independant to the money list but I disagree with so much weight being placed on the Tour Championship, either a points reset (every qualifiying player to zero points) prior to PO event #1 and then follow the same qualification criteria with no further reset. Or each qualifying player reset to zero after each PO event.

Has to be McIlroy or Woods for player of the season.

There is only one winner in my mind- that is rors, Tiger has been very consitant tourny to tourny(but not round to round)- and had a donaldesque year.. but he doesnt come close to Rors, he hasnt been able to string enough good rounds together to win the bigs, although had some very good ones and alot of top 10's

Im sure all in all McIlroy is well chuffed with his season but I wonder what Woods thinks of his. Im sure he has achieved a lot of what he set out to do, but no majors and still a few issues with his overall game. A career season for most but at his age Im sure he was hoping for a bit more this year.

I think honarable mentions for the year go to rose, tiger, duffers, sneds, zach, watson and mahan. But Rors is the cream!

Donald has had a bad year by his standards- however as bad is it might seem he still has that ability to come from mid pack to top 10 final round. I would love to see him play less events and really work on getting up to speed in events quicker that he has done. Then I see majors on the horizon

The PGA Tour are trying to reward good play over the season and have all of the best players in the final event but at the same time they want to keep the destination of $10m uncertain until the end. This is almost impossible to achieve and the result is the extremely contrived situation that currently exists.

They have changed the points on a number of occasions as anomalies occur. Padraig Harrington won two Majors in 2008 but failed to qualify for the Tour Championship. This resulted in a reduction in the weighting given to the first three PO events. In other years, Vijay and Tiger had won the FedEx before the final event. This led to the reset before the Tour Championship. It would probably be better if the entire FedEx was seen as a separate event in its own right and the 30 players in the Tour Championship were no longer necessarily the best players of the year, just the best players of the previous few weeks. This might not be 'fair' but at least it wouldn't feel so contrived.

Tinmar i personally only look at the tour championship as the fed ex finale anyway. But maybe others see it like a kinda major, i dunno. Its only a name at the end of the day.

The real tour championship in my mind is the players.

If you win the two play off events with the most OWGR on offer then you deserve to be the winner of the fedex cup.

whys that Mac?

the rules are the rules pal. They know that going in. The fed ex cup is just a cup with its own defined rules.

mystiroakey wrote:Tinmar i personally only look at the tour championship as the fed ex finale anyway. But maybe others see it like a kinda major, i dunno. Its only a name at the end of the day.

The real tour championship in my mind is the players.

I agree with you and that's exactly what it is.

What I find a little annoying is the way the whole thing is marketed, even if I can understand exactly why they do it. The concept of the 'regular season' where every event is apparently only a stepping stone to qualification for the 'play-offs' and the idea that the Tour Championship is what everyone has been playing towards all season. Clearly that is not the case at all, much as the Tour might like to pretend it is.

IMO, this is the right format for the FedEx finale. When Vijay won the first two events in 2008, he achieved an unassailable lead, and the final event lacked any thrill. There was ample drama last evening in Atlanta.

I just don’t agree that you need to have the same people winning the Tour championship and the fedex for there to be excitement. As any fan of f1 will know great viewing can be had in the final races of a season as championship contenders battle for that vital 6th place (or whatever position where they are not going for a win in that particular race) which will seal the championship. Just look at Lewis Hamilton’s finish in Brazil 2008 when he won the championship.

I am sure the fans can follow two threads of storyline at the same time and don’t need the tour championship leaders to also be going for the fedex in order to enjoy the climax.

It would have been a much better watch last night if tiger and rory were battling for the fedex – maybe being decided on which of them got into the top 10 – while rose and sneds went for the tour championship.

Rory was easily the best player over the four events so why not let him win?

McIlroy player of the season.

Woods comeback player

Stanley rookie of the year

I don't really object to the FedEx reset, I mean it's not like the best players need another 10m anyway, it's just to keep interest throughtout the season. I also think there would be less complaints if it had been someone other than Rory who had won the previous 2 events - I mean if someone had a mediocre season then won those events, it would be a bit harsh on people like woods to be out of the running just because someone had a 2 week hot patch. But equally, Rory could feel very hard done by if he had come second this week.
I think Brandt is a deserving winner, and I think last year was a better demonstration of how the tour championship is too heavily weighted - when no.25 finished one stroke ahead of no.4 at East Lake and that's enough to overhaul him, as well as help from everyone else.

The best solution I can think of is to make the reset points somehow scaled with no.1 having 2500 and the rest being based on how many points they were behind? That way the points going in will be slightly less arbitrary. (I can't find the pre-reset points for any years to do some sensbile calculations)

monty junior wrote:McIlroy player of the season.

Woods comeback player

Stanley rookie of the year

Huh should be rookie of the year imo

I picked english at the start of the year. I think he has the most potential but didnt quite do it.. Huh deffo rookie of the year

Huh, forgot about John he had a great rookie season.

Rory has prevented a player/comeback player of the year double for Tiger.

What about Rory for comeback player of the year? Remember he left the tour then came back again.


PS where's kwini? He seems to have been missing since the tour championship began. Hope all is well.

Back from the Land That WiFi Forgot.

Love s_r's Duckworth Lewis analogy - it does seem like that.

A bit like the Football League seeding all the teams so that Morecambe can have a better shot at the League Cup than Man Utd, perhaps make all the Prem teams play the first round, knock each other out and welcome Torquay who receive a bye to the fourth round.
Oh well, terrific tournaments until Sneds started running away with things, barmy format. As Shotrock said, Made For TV.

Sneds has played nine of the last ten weeks so hopefully his putter will be knackered by the time he reaches Medinah.