Golf

Cup complex but conceivable

The Tour's hope for the FedEx Cup is an exciting season-ending playoff much like NASCAR.

By BOB HARIG
Published July 6, 2006

The PGA Tour last week unveiled the formula for the FedEx Cup season that begins in January, and it's a good thing the news came out so early. It might very well take fans and players the next six months to figure out how the complicated concept works.

For roughly the past 50 years, the game has been about the four major championships, with a few other gems sprinkled about the schedule to keep interest before and after the big ones.

One problem, however, is that the PGA Tour owns none of the majors. Those championships, though they count on the PGA Tour money list and in the history books, are run by other organizations. They will still be the focus of the golf year.

But the Tour is trying to pack some punch at the end.

Most observers came to agree, along with top players such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, that the season was too long. And Chrysler Championship officials have learned that a tournament with a late October date can be a challenge in terms of attracting spectators and TV viewers.

So the Tour sought a new plan, one that would shorten the season while adding - they hope - a compelling season-ending playoff format.

"Every other sport has a playoff that has the season ending with a bang," Davis Love said. "That's what we're trying to do."

Here are some highlights.

Points instead of money

Although the tour will still keep a seasonlong money list, a points system - somewhat like NASCAR's - will be used for the FedEx Cup playoffs. It will begin at the season-opening Mercedes Championship and conclude at the Carolina Classic of Greensboro, the week following the PGA Championship. A total of 25,000 points will be available at each regular tour event, with slightly more for World Golf events and majors. So a victory at the Masters will not mean much more than a win at the Tampa Bay Championship, at least in the FedEx system. Winning a tour event will be worth 4,500 points, with an emphasis on top 10 finishes. Anyone who makes the cut will get points. If the system were in place now, Mickelson would be leading with 17,483 points. Woods would be sixth.

Reseeding

There will be 144 players who qualify for the playoffs, a number that some have suggested is too many. You have 33 tournaments to "whittle" the field to 144? That is the typical number of players who start a PGA Tour event. Before the playoffs, those players in positions 1 through 144 will have their points thrown out and be assigned a new point value. First place will get 100,000 points. Second will get 99,000, with totals decreasing by 500 or 250 points down to 94,700 for the 144th finisher. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem described it as a "slight homefield advantage" for the players who are at the top of the points list. But with double the points available at the playoff events, someone from the bottom can make a big move. Finchem likened it to the New York Yankees winning 115 games during the regular season but starting over in the playoffs.

The playoffs

The Tour wanted 144 players in order to give the greatest number of players possible, regardless of how remote their chances, the chance to win the FedEx Cup. The playoff tournaments will be the Barclays Classic in New York, the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston and the BMW Championship (formerly the Western Open) in the Midwest. There will be 50,000 points available at each event, with 9,000 points going to the winner. So a player who barely squeaked into the playoffs, then wins the Barclays Classic, could have a chance to win the FedEx Cup. Of course, that player likely will not have won a tournament all year and will have to defeat a strong field. Each tournament will have a $7-million purse and a 36-hole cut.

The Tour Championship

After the three playoff events, the top 30 in the points standings will advance to the Tour Championship in Atlanta, to be played in mid-September. Again, there will be 50,000 points available, with 9,000 going to the winner, and the hope is that just about anyone in the top 30 would have a shot at winning the FedEx Cup.

The rich get richer

In addition to the prize money available at tournaments throughout the year, plus the $7-million purse at each of the playoff events, there is a huge bonus payout waiting for the winner of the FedEx Cup: $10-million. Finishing second isn't so bad, either: $3-million. Then it's $2-million for third, $1.5-million for fourth and $1-million for fifth, which is more than first-place money at many tournaments. The bonus payouts will continue all the way down to the 144th player, a total of $35-million. To be determined still is whether the players will get these bonuses in cash or deferred compensation.

Ah, details.

[Last modified July 6, 2006, 06:29:24]