FedExCup, It's Not You. It's Me. Ok, Maybe Still A Little You, But Mostly Me.
by Ryan Ballengee on Sep 16, 2009 3:16 PM EDT
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PrintThe lamest line that a guy could ever deliver to a girl is, "It's not you. It's me." That's guyspeak for, "You're too ::fill in the blank::. I'm dumping you, but nice enough to not tell you what it is that I don't like about you."
I am getting the sense that golf media are kind of at that stage with the FedExCup.
After the first year, there was not enough volatility. So, the media demanded that the Playoffs mean more to the points system. The PGA Tour responded - a bit to the extreme - by making the playoff points distribution way more important relative to the regular season. I mean, to the point that the Masters was technically not as important as The Barclays. And we all knew that was a lie.
So, after FedExCup 2.0, we all demanded that the Playoffs mean something - but not the something that the PGA Tour suggested. I guess we were hoping that Goldilocks would find the just right porridge and this would all work out in '09.
Now, three events into the third crack at this, the media is still panning it. But, they've returned to panning it for the same reason that they used in 2007. If Tiger Woods doesn't win the FedExCup at East Lake, then they say that the concept is trash. Or at least that's the impression that I get from Doug Ferguson's weekly column. SI's Gary Van Sickle tweeted essentially the same thing. (Thanks to Geoff Shackelford for the find and engaging chatter over there.)
In other words, some in the media are bothered that if there is a pretty decent chance that Tiger will not win the FedExCup. Tiger has 71 wins in 252 PGA Tour starts. That leaves him with a 72% likelihood that he won't win the Tour Championship. And if the tournament unfolds in a star-crossed fashion, then Woods will not be holding the FedExCup. Also, he won't get to once again mock Commissioner Finchem by not kissing the trophy that he refused to kiss in 2007 despite a clever marketing campaign.
Here's the thing. The PGA Tour bills the FEC as Playoffs. While I still don't like this points reset due to its complexity, this version of the FedExCup is the best so far in resembling an actual playoff. Short of making it a weekly free for all, or some kind of shootout at East Lake, this is the best we're going to do.
And, I think I'm ok with that.
If Steve Stricker wins the FedExCup, he will have four wins this year - two against awesome fields. Tiger has six wins with one coming against some community college kids at the Buick Open. He really has five wins. You tell me that Woods is player of the year? Fine. But player of the year does not mean playoff champion.
Were the FedExCup honestly designed to simply coronate the best overall player (synonymous with Tiger), then we would just lump the four WGC events together in August and September and call it a day. The PGA Tour didn't do that.
This system is the closest to correct yet. The champion has not been predetermined before East Lake. There has been some playoff drama that was evident to the TV audience thanks to NBC Sports' number-crunching. Journey is playing on Saturday night in Atlanta for the tournament. This is by no means bad, people.
Most of all, let's not put the cart before the horse here. Tiger is going to win at East Lake - despite Jason Sobel's insistence that he is a jinx on Woods' 2009 season.
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I’m not sure who doth protest too much — the press about the FEC or Villegas about how tired he is.
I know all of them are making me yawn. Villegas we covere already. Golf writers, well, they need to remember that fans are still reading them because of the FEC in a time of year when the biggest excitement we might have in the world of golf is by how much Izzy Beisiegel will miss the cut at the Q-School Pre-Qual tourney.
Tour to the Media...
“It really is you. You complain too much. Who needs the aggrevation ?”
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Playoffs?!
the Playoffs are good for the sport. The FEC just doesn’t have that much history yet, this should change, but every major sport has a trophy that’s played for at the end of the year. The MVP of baseball doesn’t always win the World Series, so if Tiger doesn’t win, it’s NOT bad for golf. So let’s all try to enjoy this so one day we can pass on our knowledge of the first great FEC to our kids someday.
In sports we are accustomed to the playoffs resulting in a “World Champion” being crowned for the year. Because it’s an individual sport and the majors are more important than the season ending Tour Championship, golf just doesn’t work that way.
We need to view the FedEx Cup like the nice series of events it is, but realize it’s never going to be the Super Bowl or World Series of golf. Because the best golfer loses more than he wins, any one tournament can do nothing more than crown the player who is playing best on any given week.
When we look at a year or multiple of years, we can determine who the best golfer is. However, no golf tournament or series of four tournaments can determine anything more than who is the hottest player at any given moment.
BTW, I'm still going with Tiger...
Since winning the British Open in ’06, Tiger is winning at a clip of 53% (23 of 44 tournaments), not including winning his unofficial Chevron/Target event twice in that period of time.
His last three Tour Championships: 1st-2nd-2nd. His last six this year: 1-1-2-2-11-1
If you look at his last few years, as Ryan recently did, you could actually make the argument that Tiger Woods is getting better.
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