The FedEx Cup just completed its second iteration and produced Vijay Singh as its champion and recipient of its $10 million first prize payout.  The finale – the Tour Championship – serves as the end of the four tournament playoff series and 33 event FedEx Cup season.

After the Tour Championship and East Lake, the PGA Tour schedule then transitions to a seven tournament series known as the Fall Series.  These events are more low-key and stretch from the end of September through the beginning of November.  The purses range from around $3.5 million to $6 million.  

The field strength diminishes significantly over the events that populate the FedEx Cup schedule.  Players competing in these events are either trying to secure their fully exempt PGA Tour status for next season, improve standing for entry into invitational tournaments in the following season, or getting good practice in for the grind that is the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (Q-school).  Few top-notch players compete in these events, and are generally resigned to playing a few events on the European and Asian Tours in order to collect large appearance fees.

Attendance is fairly low given the lack of buzz around the field and the competition that golf faces from playoff baseball, college football, the NFL, the resurgent NHL, NBA tip-off, and the finale of the NASCAR season.  Golf gets lost in the fray.  

Meanwhile, mid to lower level players compete for money in mediocre fields.  It is the perfect opportunity for players that have struggled against the best to make a cash grab and secure their livelihood for another year.  For a handful each fall, the Fall Series makes their year and gives them access to some of the elite field tournaments on the PGA Tour – including some major championship berths.

No tournament in the series is played in a city that is considered a major market.  The largest markets would be either San Antonio or Las Vegas.  Other host cities include small, niche markets that have weather nice enough to host golf – but not much else in the way of media promotion or allure enough to bring in better players.  

By and large, the sponsorship of these events is either regional in nature or nonprofits.  Unlike the international sponsor lineup that the FedEx Cup season presents, the Fall Series sponsors are generally less well known than their counterparts and largely have more modest value in mind for Tour sponsorship.  In addition, two of the events face sponsorship issues – the Ginn sur Mer Classic and a new, unnamed event in Georgia to replace the Valero Texas Open.  This is also just one small part of the looming sponsorship issues for the FedEx Cup series, due in large part to the PGA Tour’s involvement with companies hardest hit by the financial crisis – automakers and financial firms.

The result is a series that struggles to gain traction with fans, sponsors, or better players.  These events draw little media attention and are only broadcast on the Golf Channel.  And with the culmination of the Race to Dubai on the European Tour starting around this time next season, it may be even more difficult for fans to be attached to these events at all.

With all of the calamity in maintaining the Fall Series beyond next season, it seems that there are only two real options for the PGA Tour: (1) drastically retool the series, or (2) scrap it altogether.

For the Fall Series to be viable long-term in its current form, the Tour has to respond by making these events more competitive in the environment in which they take place.  The fields have to be better.  The events have to be broadcast with more fanfare, and not just on Golf Channel.  The purses have to be bigger.  The tournaments have to take place in markets where even marginal interest will draw a solid crowd.  In effect, the entire nature of the Fall Series has to change.

The rank and file of the PGA Tour would complain if these changes are made.  Bigger purses mean the likelihood of better players appearing rises.  That would make securing a Tour card for the following season more difficult.  Traveling to larger markets would cost more for hotels and food, which would take away from the earning power of players.  In effect, the Fall Series is currently a life float thrown to the players on the verge of drowning on Tour.  To change that would fundamentally change how mid-level players try to find a path to retaining a Tour card.

Still, making these changes would probably prove to benefit the same rank and file.  Most top-tier players pack it in for the year after the Tour Championship.  Only about ten or so would really consider playing the Fall Series in a beefed up fashion.  With better names and more money, the rank and file would have fewer better players to beat for more money. 

This would also allow the Tour to compete with the European Tour’s Race to Dubai finale.  Though the value of that 10 million British Pound prize pool is dwindling by the day in this economy, it will still lure many superstar names to the circuit to finish the season. 

For the PGA Tour to capture some of that thunder, it must respond with more money – the only sure thing to lure players.  It can do this by attracting bigger name sponsors in more prominent cities.  Or, it can consider the option of lifting the ban on appearance fees for its Fall Series events only.  While sponsors may not take full advantage of this option, it will provide potential future Fall Series sponsors with more freedom with their capital infusion and perhaps entice them to enter into the back end of the Tour schedule.

The problem with this is that the sponsorship environment is difficult right now.  As mentioned, the PGA Tour will be facing some tough negotiations in sponsorship contracts ahead.  It is not likely that any of these suggestions – including lifting the appearance fee ban – would necessarily yield a stronger Fall Series.  Therefore, the preferable option would be  to simply scrap the Fall Series and replace it with a new series.

The Fall Series purses total around $30 million.  If some of this money were invested in a hybrid mini-season with struggling PGA Tour players and surging Nationwide Tour players, the events could gain some new life. 

If the Nationwide Tour were to rearrange its schedule to begin in the United States in early March – as opposed to late March now, then the season could end in late September and have its top 25 finishers awarded PGA Tour cards for the next season.  On the PGA Tour, then four to six events could be held with the new Nationwide Tour graduates and any PGA Tour player that chooses to enter. 

These events would serve a dual purpose.  They would provide opportunities for Nationwide Tour grads to play against their new peers on the PGA Tour.  Also, the series would be a means of making the race for the top 125 more exciting.  FedEx Cup 3.0 would only admit the top 100 players on the money list into the Playoffs – likely giving them all security for next season.  Any player that did not make the Playoffs would then be eligible to compete in this series of events to play for their Tour life.  The top 25 players in money at the end of the series would round out the top 125.  The other players would then be assigned to different stages of Q-school and eligibility based on their finishes.  Any player that was in the series because of a promotion from the Nationwide Tour, or that was already safe for next year on the PGA Tour, would not be impacted.

Either way, the Fall Series needs a purpose other than being a wide open money grab for mid-level players.  The Fall Series can be more interesting if it has a prize and a compelling story.  Both of those requirements can be filled by more explicitly making a Tour card into the focal point of the series.  The original title for the series was Quest for the Card.  That should have been the original point and can be now.  With a mixing bowl of newly minted PGA Tour players, those that may be on the way out, and those that are at the top of their games, the Fall Series could provide something for everyone. 

While there should be no one with visions of golf supremacy in the fall months, making significant changes to the series could make the PGA Tour more competitive in the fall than it is today with other American sports and its counterpart in Europe.