Is the Tour out of the Woods?

Wake up the kids, fire up the VCR, the TOUR Championship begins today; the tournament that pits the top 30 players on the money list...er...FedEx Cup points list against each other, in a winner take all, no-holds barred format. Oh sorry, that''s a different sport.  The TOUR Championship is the final event of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, and pits the top 30 players in the Cup standings against each other, giving four or five players a realistic chance to win, while the rest simply play out the string and perhaps pad their wallet.  Few times does a sport's final event evoke so little drama and interest as this year's TOUR Championship, and while many of the problems can be blamed on the TOUR, there are also a few that are out of their control.

Return to Sender

The FedEx Cup begins today, the PGA Tour's attempt at a post-season, with The Barclays Tournament.  Does this mean, like with most other sports that the real excitment of the season has begun?  Is it like baseball, where the playoffs is what it's all about?  In one word, no.  That's right, I'm bitching about the PGA Tour again!

I like the idea of having a playoff on the PGA Tour.  As I've stated before, most tournaments have as much appeal as a hernia, and the Tour has been in desperate need of something more exciting.  This holds especially true at the end of the season, where in the past, Spetember was a time for players to battle it out for 125th on the money list in such star-dudded fields as the 84 Lumber or South Farm Bureau Classics, hoping to earn their exemption for the following seasoon.  The World Golf Championships were the Tour's first attempt at ending the boredom, but have failed miserably.  Nobody can claim they have any more interest in the CA Championship over the Memorial Tournament, they're both just run of the mill PGA Tour events.

But the FedEx Cup was going to do what other ideas have failed to do, create suspense at the end of the season, and crown a season champion.  A grand idea, but one that has fallen woefully short, and threatens to do the same for many years to come.

Where did it all go wrong?