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My Take on the Fed Ex Cup
ptper
Posts: 146
in Sports Talk
I know there's not many golf fans on this board, but I just needed to vent somewhere about the Fed Ex Cup. First of all I love Tiger and it was a forgone conclusion that he would win and I'm happy he did. But I have a few problems with the set up of the playoff format.
It is obviously totally contrived. I've been a golf fan for many years and I see no reason why to "end" the season and start with new point totals. The point totals are absurd. Tiger finished with 123,033 and Steve Stricker finished with 110,455. These are not numbers which flow trippingly from the tongue. I would venture to say that not many golf fans knew what the point totals were at any point in the Playoffs. The numbers are too big to remember and therefore meaningless to the regular fan. Can you imagine 20 years from now telling your kid that you can remember the year Tiger won the Fed Ex Cup with 123,033 points? I can't. I had to go back to the PGA website 3 times to get the right number for this paragraph.
Also, it bothered me that not every player played in each tournament and that includes Tiger and Phil. I think this is in part due to the fact that they have to play four weeks in a row. To fix this I would like to see the tournaments played every other week. But TV would not be too thrilled with that.
My biggest problem with the Cup was the ease of the courses. I have always believed that par should be the winning score in a major and these 4 playoff tournaments should be treated like the majors. The courses should be very difficult emphasizing shot making and not length. Maybe not as hard as some U.S. Opens have been, but make them a true test of golf. Especially in the last tournament with the best 30 players, the course should be set up so that par is an excellent score. This week only 3 golfers were over par and 2 at par. I realize that the weather has a lot to do with this, but the championship needs to be harder. I also think they should be progressively harder culminating with the TPC.
In Atlanta this week it seemed as if someone was threatening 59 every round. I thought it wasn't really much fun to watch.
This next peeve is not one that anyone can do anything about, but consider this scenario: Tiger, Phil and Stricker are the only players with a chance to win at the last tournament. However during the week they all play horribly and are the worst three players in the field. On Sunday they are the first ones to tee off and the first to finish their rounds. Suddenly you are watching Hunter Mahan, Mark Calcavecchia and Scott Verplank battle for the lead. Ratings for this would rival a regular season WNBA game. I know there's not much anyone can do about this, but it would really spoil the playoff in my opinion.
So to fix the Cup, play the tournaments every other week, make the players play all 4 tournaments to win and make the courses progressively tougher.
Thanks for reading.
It is obviously totally contrived. I've been a golf fan for many years and I see no reason why to "end" the season and start with new point totals. The point totals are absurd. Tiger finished with 123,033 and Steve Stricker finished with 110,455. These are not numbers which flow trippingly from the tongue. I would venture to say that not many golf fans knew what the point totals were at any point in the Playoffs. The numbers are too big to remember and therefore meaningless to the regular fan. Can you imagine 20 years from now telling your kid that you can remember the year Tiger won the Fed Ex Cup with 123,033 points? I can't. I had to go back to the PGA website 3 times to get the right number for this paragraph.
Also, it bothered me that not every player played in each tournament and that includes Tiger and Phil. I think this is in part due to the fact that they have to play four weeks in a row. To fix this I would like to see the tournaments played every other week. But TV would not be too thrilled with that.
My biggest problem with the Cup was the ease of the courses. I have always believed that par should be the winning score in a major and these 4 playoff tournaments should be treated like the majors. The courses should be very difficult emphasizing shot making and not length. Maybe not as hard as some U.S. Opens have been, but make them a true test of golf. Especially in the last tournament with the best 30 players, the course should be set up so that par is an excellent score. This week only 3 golfers were over par and 2 at par. I realize that the weather has a lot to do with this, but the championship needs to be harder. I also think they should be progressively harder culminating with the TPC.
In Atlanta this week it seemed as if someone was threatening 59 every round. I thought it wasn't really much fun to watch.
This next peeve is not one that anyone can do anything about, but consider this scenario: Tiger, Phil and Stricker are the only players with a chance to win at the last tournament. However during the week they all play horribly and are the worst three players in the field. On Sunday they are the first ones to tee off and the first to finish their rounds. Suddenly you are watching Hunter Mahan, Mark Calcavecchia and Scott Verplank battle for the lead. Ratings for this would rival a regular season WNBA game. I know there's not much anyone can do about this, but it would really spoil the playoff in my opinion.
So to fix the Cup, play the tournaments every other week, make the players play all 4 tournaments to win and make the courses progressively tougher.
Thanks for reading.
Always looking for T59 Flags.
0
Comments
My pet peeve with the Fed Ex Cup is that NBC needs to work in a few more High Definition Cameras!!!!
<< <i><<If it's going to be promoted as a playoff, then anyone who wants to contend for it should have to play every week. I don't see how a guy can take a week off and still win.>>
Why do some teams in the NFL play 3 games when others play 2? >>
Because it gives the 2 best teams a competitive advantage for having the best record during the regular season. Again, if this format is going to be promoted as a head-to-head match up of the best of the best, then anyone who wants to contend should have to play all 4 matches. It's idiotic to have a guy win who didn't even play one week.
East Lake was scoring easy because they nearly lost their greens so they were very soft, which allows pros to play golf like they are throwing darts. Easy to stick in close and easy to get it up and down.
My biggest qualm is the point system. Throw that away and go by actual dollars that are relevant to the dollars they earned until the playoff start. They should also spread out the 4 events over 6 to 8 weeks. Is there really any doubt that Tiger Woods is not the best player in golf. For him not to have won it would have discredited the Tour's efforts.
Erik
If they want people to care, put it in the beginning of the year, make anyone who wants to compete and win commit to all 4 events (and have to play in all 4 to win). NASCAR's biggest event is in the beginning of the year, why wouldn't it work for golf?
I think they should move it to the beginning of the season, so golfers can't use that ridiculous 'I'm too tired!' excuse; make any player who wants to win the title play in all 4 events, and only make points earned in the four events count.