Kicking a Dead Horse About the Fed-Ex

The WGC Accenture World Match Play tournament kicks off today, and if you're a fan like me, then you've already got your brackets filled out and have placed a few friendly wagers among your colleagues for the matches. Furthermore, you probably also entertain the thought as to how awesome this tournament would be if it came a litle later in the season and determined the overall winner of the Fed-Ex Cup.

I know, I know, I know. The current FedEx Cup system is the one that most people think is the "best we could do" and plenty of fans like it just fine. Following this past week's commitment extension by FedEx to the PGA TOUR, it appears that this system will be in place until at least 2017. I am probably better served to just suck it up and accept what I cannot change.

But dammit, can't a guy dream? Who in their right mind would disagree that having the 64 best players in the world (or in FedEx Cup points, or whatever) playing in a winner-take-all tournament at the end of the season would be awesome? All the best players from the year will be in attendance playing against one another in a match-play format just a few months removed from the NCAA's March Madness tournament. How does that NOT sound fantastic? Las Vegas would explode.

Of course, there are many holes in my logic. Professional golf doesn't work like other sports. The PGA TOUR would have to set a definite "end of the year" tournament cut-off sometime in November. The allure of playing in events like the BMW Championship or Deutchse Bank Championship may not be as enticing as they are in the current format. Tournament sponsors would probably break out the torches and pitchforks for Commissioner Finchem.

But that doesn't mean that fans everywhere would learn to embrace a year-end bracket tournament. Who wouldn't want to see Phil Mickelson vs. Tiger Woods in a semi-final? Don't we remember how much fun it was to watch Rocco vs. Tiger on a Monday to decide the US Open champion? And that wasn't even match-play! Oh, and don't even get me started on how crazy golf fans would be if a Cinderella Story made his way to the final match against Rory McIlroy or Luke Donald. Twitter would melt.

I'm going to enjoy this week's tournament just as I do every year. But I'm still going to wonder "What If" in the process.