Can Someone Play Spoiler Today at East Lake?

Imagine this scenario: Kenny Perry and Tiger Woods hit their tee shots to the par 3 final hole at East Lake in the Tour Championship.  Perry has a two shot lead over Woods.  Woods has a one shot lead over Steve Marino (or insert other golfer here) for solo second place.  If Woods makes par at the lengthy finisher, he can claim the FedExCup and $10 million.  At the same time, if Perry makes par, he will win the Tour Championship, $1.35 million, and increase his stake in the FedExCup bonus pool to $3 million.

If it happens, do both hug each other at the 18th green?

It's very plausible that both Perry and Woods can be winners on the 18th green at East Lake this afternoon.  Obviously, Perry is still holding out hope that he can win the FedExCup outright.  But, he will need some serious help from the likes of Sean O'Hair, Phil Mickelson, and Steve Marino.  No matter what Perry does today were he to win, he would need golfers behind Woods to rally and catch him in the final round in order to win the FedExCup.

Generally speaking, golfers paired with Woods in the final round of a golf tournament do about three shots worse than Woods.  That would be enough for Woods to win the FedExCup and Tour Championship outright.  If Perry can weather that storm, though, the challengers who normally crumble in Woods' presence - including O'Hair earlier this season - have a chance to play spoiler while he isn't looking.

There has to be some element of satisfaction for the players that lurk behind Woods that they can ruin one more thing about Tiger's season, even if they themselves cannot win the FedExCup.

Unlike baseball, golf has a different kind of spoiler role.  If Mickelson somehow finishes solo second, he will still win close to a million dollars plus whatever FEC bonus cash he were to get.  (No, I'm not doing the math.)  He would still come out a pretty big winner in monetary terms.  He would just be able to add that he stopped Woods from winning a major or anything major-ish this season.

If the Washington Nationals can perenially revel in playing that role, then perhaps the players that regularly are beaten down by Woods can learn to appreciate it as well.