When I was a kid growing up in the 70's everything was about sports and dreams of glory. If I wasn't scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal, I was hitting a home run to win the World Series or tossing the winning touchdown pass for the Minnesota Vikings in the Super-Bowl or for the Ottawa Rough Riders in the Grey Cup. And of course when I knocked my whiffle ball into the hole in my backyard with a 7 iron it was to win.....the Fedex Cup! What else?
My cheap attempt at humour aside, I know the Fedex cup has taken a lot of heat since its inception but I think this year it actually worked. And I don't mean the way the BCS sometimes works in determining a proper College Football Championship game: by chance. I think the formula, whatever it is, really works or at the very least is getting there. For one thing the tweaks to the formula this year ensured that there would never be the situation again where the thing could be wrapped up before the final tournament. That was disastrous last year. And as I watched the leaders play the front nine on Sunday I can honestly say that I was intrigued at the possibilities for the day. So for me I think they got it right. For those who still think it doesn't work let me ask you this: what would you do differently to make it better?
Personally I can't really think of anything significantly better because the fact of the matter is that golf, in this context, has largely become a victim of its own success. The major championships have so much tradition and have become such huge events now that it's simply impossible for any "manufactured" event to match up. It just isn't going to happen. Add to that the raw emotion of the Ryder Cup and the intrigue of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and you have a situation where the end of year tournaments are always destined to be second class citizens. But in my opinion the PGA Tour did manage to make the best of difficult situation with its Fedex setup this year.
Has the $10 million dollar first prize generated excitement for golf fans? I don't think so, not directly anyway. I think those first few Skins games back in the 80's were the last time people actually cared about how much money was riding on a putt. With all the money flying around these days I believe, as fans, we've basically become immune to the size of the purse. But the $10 Million dollar prize did matter to the players and most importantly it ensured that Tiger Woods would participate in all 4 playoff events, and that, more than anything is what made the Fedex Cup a relative success.
You know how they always say "no player is bigger than the game" well as far as professional golf is concerned Tiger Woods is the game. And that is coming from someone who is not a huge Woods fan. Simply put, without Woods' presence in the final 2 majors last year interest dropped significantly but without Tiger's involvement in the end of year tournaments they essentially fall completely off the radar screen.
So congratulations to Tiger for taking his second Fedex Cup. That's two more than Jack ever won. Congrats to Hefty for winning the Tour Championship and setting himself up nicely for a return to prominence in 2010. And most of all congratulations to the PGA Tour for at least making the final month and a half of the season something worth watching.
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