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Friday, September 14, 2007
The Tour Championship (not really)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
This ain’t gonna work. That being said, let me direct your attention to the adjoining insert that reads, “My Opinion.”
It’s pretty well determined who the likely winner is at East Lake this week, which is beside the point. The Tour Championship once was aimed at determining the best player of the year, and while that hasn’t always worked out — would you believe that Tiger Woods has won it only one time since it came into play in 1987 (and that wasn’t here) — this is different. This is for ten million bucks and a trophy called the FedEx Cup.
One year, Bart Bryant won this tournament with a score of 263, six better than Woods. Did that mean Bart was the player of the year? No, nor will the FedEx chase be that decisive every year, though it presumably is the target this time. One publication concluded it moot last week with a headline, “Looks Like It’s Over.” It could be prophetic, but remember, it ain’t over till it’s over.
There are differences among the Tour members as wide as Grand Canyon. Sports Illustrated published an opinion piece by one player whose identity was withheld. Running free and unhindered, this player ran the gamut of complaints, and the list filled nearly a page, all of which have been loudly debated at one time or another. One matter had to do with Tour members having a voice in policy. “They say we discuss the issues, but that isn’t true,” it reads. “I’ve been to meetings where they’ve said, ‘We have three options. Which do you prefer.’ It’s already done. Why don’t they let us vote on stuff like the FedEx Cup?”
It would have been more palatable had the speaker been identified, but the important thing was the fact that all the issues have been batted back and forth like a ping-pong ball. In the first place, there are too many sets of figures, the earnings list and the FedEx points, all of which are dumped going into the four-tournament playoff. Then another set of numbers in the Barclays, Deutsche Bank and BMW tournaments, leading into the Tour Championship. That confuses even pros experienced at trying to keep up with life on the tour.
Stewart Cink is a player held in high regard by his peers and who serves on the Tour Policy Board. He snapped his brethren to attention with an open letter chastising fellow members. “We need to be smarter in the way we handle our individual opinions. The players as a whole seem to have forgotten we are all part of a bigger plan here,” he wrote. “Success and growth of the FedEx Cup … hinges largely on players embracing the playoff system.”
Also embracing the “company line,” concluding with this poetic observation: “A rising tide buoys all ships.” I like that.
Well-spoken, carefully phrased and coming from a person of Cink’s character, it should be sobering to a company of players. But not enough to unclutter the mess which finally came to a head at this particular juncture. Isn’t there something wrong with this final stage, when in a field of 30 qualifiers, only five are left with even a whisper of a chance of winning the Cup? Shouldn’t every player in this field be eligible? Or, is the Tour Championship really not the championship of the tour?
Oh, well, I’ve said it. I look at the program and it says, “The Tour Championship” at the top. At the bottom, “Playoffs/FedEx Cup.” Which is it? It’s not good politics to take such a blunt approach, but when $10 million is the prize and so many investors are disgruntled, seems the thing to do. On the other hand, it was indeed inspiring to see those two old crocks, Mark Calcavecchia and Woody Austin, lumbering down the fairways together, even if they can’t win the vaunted chalice.
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