I've been noodling over an idea today, an idea to make the PGA Tour "playoffs" really matter. To players and fans. To make them feel more like real lose-and-you-go-home playoffs, to build momentum from week-to-week leading up to a "super bowl" of golf with all the attendant hype, pomp and circumstance. And to turn them into something truly unique in golf.

What are the issues we've run across in Year One of the FedEx Cup?

1. The players hate the schedule it produces.
   
2. There's no real penalty for a high-ranking player on the points list skipping one of the "playoffs," and no real incentive to play three out of three tournaments prior to the final event in order to fight for very precious points.
   
3. There is no win-or-go-home feel as there is in real playoffs.
   
4. There's been no sense of momentum building from week-to-week, despite the PGA Tour marketing department's and the television networks' best efforts.
   
5. It's possible that the guy who wins the last tournament won't win the big prize; by the same token, the guy who wins the big prize could be someone who finishes 12th in the last tournament.
   
6. And, really, there's nothing terribly different about the "playoff" tournaments themselves compared to others throughout the year. Just another stretch of stroke-play tournaments.

These are the top and bottom halves of the "super bowl" of golf, the end-of-the-season match-play Tour Championship, offering a $10 million first prize. Places in the field are determined via the FedEx Cup points list and three weeks of "playoffs," much as it is now but with some important tweaks.

Now, the astute observer will notice that my brackets - which are based on current FedEx Cup standings, by the way - include only 26 golfers. Two spots are empty, four golfers show up in the second round but not the first.

We'll get to those items in a second. First, some explanation of the format and how players get into this tournament.

FedEx Cup points are tabulated throughout the season, as they are now. Points are re-set at the beginning of the playoffs, as now, and tabulated in the playoffs, as now.

Here's where the differences start.

The three "playoffs" are played back-to-back-to-back, but then there's a one-week break - just like the week off prior to the Super Bowl - before the Tour Championship. That week break gives every golfer a chance to rest after at least three straight weeks of golf. It also gives the hype machines a chance to go into overdrive, as they do during the off-week before Super Bowl Week.

And there'll be plenty to hype, because the format of the Tour Championship will be so different.

First, the top four players in the FedEx point standings will get first-round byes. That makes those top four spots much more important than they are under the current format. It (along with the week off prior to the Tour Championship) provides incentive for golfers to play all three preliminaries.

Another incentive is to keep fighting for points, not just to get into the Top 30, but to avoid places 27-30.

There will be 30 golfers in the field, just as there are now, despite only 26 showing in my brackets above.

Players 27-30 on the points list have to face off in play-in matches the day before the main draw begins, No. 26 vs. No. 30, No. 27 vs. No. 28. The two winners get the blank slots in the brackets above.

Doesn't this diminish the importance of the FedEx Cup champion? It does - the winner of the final tournament gets the $10 million prize, not the winner of the FedEx Cup. But the title sponsor gets all the same publicity it got this year, because the points are just as important - it's just that the main attention paid to the points will peak at the penultimate tournament rather than the final tournament.

But the FedEx Cup points champion and payouts would still be determined at the Tour Championship, and the title sponsor would have its name on the Tour Championship, too.

The FedEx Cup championship might even help make the consolation match matter: The players playing for third and fourth in the Tour Championship might be ones fighting for first in the point series.

There's one final major twist to this plan, the coup de grace, that I'll save for last.

But let's recap:

• 
  
• The point series runs through the season, resets for the "playoffs," three stroke play events whittle down the field to the Top 30 for the Tour Championship.
• The Top 4 players get first-round byes at the $10 million shootout, making those top four spots in the points standings very important. This helps provide incentive for Woods, Mickelson, Els, et.al., to play all three "playoffs."
• As does the week off between the third playoff and the Tour Championship. Which also gives everyone time to overdose on hype, ala the week off before a Super Bowl week.
• Players 26-30 get the week started with two play-in matches. These serve as appetizers to get everyone ready for the main draw. The also provide Cinderella possibilities, like a wildcard team making it to the Super Bowl.
• It's match play - win or go home.
• The winner of the tournament gets $10 million.

  I should point out at this point that I'm not really a big fan of match play for individual (as opposed to team) tournaments. The risk is high for a boring final.

  But my format makes that risk much lower for this tournament. First, there are only 28 people in the field after the two play-ins, so already the odds are better that Tiger and/or Phil can make the final. Second, the Top 4 players get first-round byes. I think the combination of those two factors greatly shorten the odds against having a great championship matchup.

• Final FedEx Cup standings are still determined at the final stop, although they are secondary to the $10 million winner's prize of the Tour Championship. Hey, the tournament winner should get the big prize. They don't give the Super Bowl trophy to the winner of the game, then declare another team the "Team of the Year."

  But the points will still matter, because everyone in the field will earn money based on their final standings. Maybe a couple million goes to the winner, maybe $25,000 goes to No. 30, with that money determined at the Tour Championship.
  

Now, that final, crowning point.

At my FedEx Tour Championship $10 Million Shootout, that $10 million winner's check is also the entire purse.

It's winner take all.

And that's your "super bowl" of golf.