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Update: The FedEx Cup is over for this year with Jim Furyk the winner of the 10 million dollar first
prize. Do to my lack of interest in the outcome I only watched a few minutes of day two and the
last hour of the final round. I didn't miss the excitement of Jim's fist pump and hugging Fluff his
caddy, the most emotion Furyk has expressed since procuring his drivers license.
In post cup interviews with contending golfers, NONE had any idea where they stood during the
FedEx Cup tournament (is it a tournament?) until they had completed the final round. Only Jim
Furyk knew that if he won the tournament he would win the ten million dollars and the Fed Ex Cup,
but not until the last hole. How's that for suspense, pressure and excitement? NOT!
The FedEx Cup is a disappointment, not that Furyk won but the competition didn't produce what
the PGA and the fans of golf were hoping for, a World Series of Golf, a finale to the golf season,
the the emotional ups and downs of the players and fans. It shouldn't have been a surprise to the
PGA. The PGA is enamored with the Fed Ex point system. I understand, Fed Ex gets huge year
long exposure because Fed Ex points lead to massive amounts of marketing. But the end result
never meets the hype in the playoffs and the Cup final. The FedEx Cup could be so much more.
A Solution?
Most folks solve problems by looking at the issue and determining what they can change that will
make the problem go away. This is somewhat similar to what the PGA is doing when it attempts to
MAKE the current FedEx Cup formula work. This patchwork philosophy is typical in politics,
government agencies and large corporations like the PGA. If the tire is flat, patch it!
Having a World Series, a Super Bowl of golf is a wonderful concept and it is long overdue on the
PGA Tour. If duplicating one of these bastions of sports is the PGA's goal, the current FedEx Cup
Championship needs to be purged. What do you replace it with?
First, define the goal.
Goal: Create a Championship that pits the greatest golfers in the world to determine the current
years best player.
If we use the highly successful professional baseball, football, basketball, soccer and hockey
championships as the formula the current FedEx system doesn't fit.
Why? First, the PGA has adopted a very complex points algorithm to determine who makes it into
the FedEx Cup. If a player makes it to the final tournament, which determines the winner, his
points are "reset" supposedly making it more competitive. This system is difficult enough for me to
understand after thoroughly researching the rules let alone a typical fan of golf. This is far too
complex and unnecessary. A fan should know who is in and who is out of contention just by
looking at the player standings in the morning newspaper alongside the other major sports. Also,
the basis used to determine the best golfer has nothing to do with the game of golf. When you play
golf with your buddies, how many points do you and your friends accumulate at the end of the
round? When you play in your men's club tournaments, did you make sure you were given the
correct amount of points or were you interested in where you were on the leader board? Where
did POINTS come from? Points determine the winner in any sport but it is used only to determine
the winner of the current game (the exception is soccer due to ties). At the end of the game you
have either a win or a loss based on who had the most points/scores.
Golf typically uses only two criteria to determine winners of competitions, scores and the resulting
position. The lowest score gains the highest position on the leader board and cashes the biggest
check.
Rather than bore you with a great number of possible replacements for the current FedEx
Championship system, let's cut to the chase. I'm not saying my proposal should be used as is (I
really do). I do believe the PGA has crushed the "keep it simple stupid" rule.
Here Goes:
Re-name the PGA Money Leaders list to the FedEx Money Leaders list. This list replaces the Fed
Ex points system (YES!).
Limit the Championship field to 50 players.
The PGA is fixated on the top 125 money winners. Let's consider 125 players the "PGA Golf
League" as in the National Football League, the American League (baseball), etc.. Each league
has a certain number of teams. Successful teams, the better win/loss record, qualify for the
playoffs where they make more money and gain prestige the higher they go in the run to their
championship. Not only is there incentive to finish high enough to make the playoffs it is also
important as to where you place in the standings, getting easier teams to play the higher you are
seeded. My issue with the current formula is that the FedEx Cup has much less prestige because
the criteria for acceptance is not limited enough.
Win any PGA tournament and you qualify.
A player automatically qualifies if he wins a tournament during the current year (this year 33 won
tournaments, 6 of these players won 2 tournaments). The remaining spots (17 this year
33+17=50) are based on their position on the money list that didn't win a tournament this year.
They will also qualify. The PGA money leaders list is the best barometer of consistent success and
gives appropriate status to the more important tournaments (The major tournaments pay larger
purses).
The Course: Each year the FedEx tournament is played on a different course or a rotation of say 7
great courses as do three of the four majors, the US Open, British Open and the PGA
Championship.
Once the top 50 golfers are determined the excitement begins:
Round 1: Following the BMW Championship at Cog Hill G&CC, Lemont Illinois, the top 50 golfers
will play Pebble Beach Golf Links (an example only). No practice rounds (how many tournaments
do you play in that have practice rounds?). The top 25 players will move on to round 2. A sudden
death playoff will determine the top 25 if necessary.
Round 2: The top 10 players will move on to round 3. A sudden death playoff will determine the
top 10 if necessary.
Round 3: The top 5 players will move on to round 4. A sudden death playoff will determine the top
5 if necessary.
Round 4: The final round will consist of a five-some playing head to head. If any are tied after 18
holes a sudden playoff will determine the FedEx champion.
One Possible Issue, $:
What about the tournaments leading up to the Fed Ex Championship? Wouldn't the top players
pass on these tournaments along with the galleries? Limiting the number to qualify for the Cup to
50 insures that the closer to the FedEx final the more dynamic the 50 top positions become. This
would encourage the accumulation of money to insure the best position possible for the run to the
10 million. Adding a rule that any player must enter two of the three final tournaments leading up
to the Cup could also insure more popular fields.
There you have it. Only the golfers who have demonstrated during the year that they are the best
qualify for the Championship. Any fan and participant can easily determine where a player stands
at any point in the tournament season. Just like baseball, basketball, football, soccer, English rules
football, hockey, little leagues and polo.
Now this is a Golf World Series!
About the Author
In his professional life, Loren Larson designed, developed and trained employees using relational
databases. Also an avid golfer for over 50 years, he has turned his love/hate relationship with
computers into creating a golf blog and is developing an interactive online/real life golf application.
The blog will be used to update anyone interested in golf and anyone interested in watching a
business grow from the beginning to fruition. http://www.bogeycentral.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Loren_Larson
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