The 2007 golf season is almost here and it will be the first time for the new FedEx Cup playoff format. While I'm heavily in favor of the new format, mostly because it will help build drama at the end of what is usually an anticlimactic season, it has two flaws that bother me.
First, the season-opening Mercedes Championship counts toward accumulating points to enter the FedEx Cup playoffs. But this is an All-Star event. The winners of all of last year's PGA Tour tournaments are invited to participate (although Tiger and Phil will skip it). Doesn't that sound a bit unfair? The Nextel Cup in NASCAR doesn't use the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge in it's official points race. The MLB, NFL, NHL or NBA all-star games don't count toward the official stats. But the Mercedes will. Either make the Mercedes a full event or take it off the Fedex Cup schedule.
Second, events on the PGA Tour on the same exact weekend as the British Open and World Golf Match Play Championship count in the FedEx Cup points.
So while a very good golfer is just missing a cut at the British Open, some guy who couldn't make the field is going to earn a lot of FedEx Cup points by winning the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. One of the top 64 golfers in the world will lose in the first round in the World Golf Match Play Championship, while some lesser-ranked guy earns FedEx Cup points in a second-rate PGA Tour event in Mexico the same weekend.
While neither of these are major flaws, they are just so obviously wrong. We'll likely see a deserving golfer miss the cut for the FedEx Cup playoff events due to points another golfer amassed in either a minor league event or an all-star game. Hopefully they'll figure out how to adjust that in 2008.
Posted by Peter Schoenke at 12/29/2006 4:45:00 PM
