by mario irizarry
I think you comments are excellant. Golf is unique and can be played by virtually anyone. That is why those of us that play love it. LETS NOT GET HUNG UP ON CHANGING TRADITIONS FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE. The fed x cup is a waste of time. Golf does not need a play off system.

by Doug W.
Professional Golf's biggest fans are golfers. Not casual TV watchers. We golfers watch the pros to inspire ourselves when we play. We buy equipment, play on the weekends, and it is our ongoing passion. We still play, our little league mitts are not in the closet, gathering dust. One good shot, and we are Tiger Woods. One bad shot, and we want to quit the game. One bad round, and the honey do chores seem like "maybe i should do them next weekend. This game is too frustrating."
Here's the point. We don't need a playoff. Accumulated points don't turn us on. Just as the Stableford System does not catch our interest. It is too mental, too complex, too much math. We golfers just want to hit a 7 iron draw onto the green from 150 to 6 feet from the pin.
That some guy could win the FEDEX cup and never win a tournament just doesn't do it. That the $10 million top prize can't be collected until one is 45 is absurd.
If golf were smart, they would take a cue from professional poker. Let it come down to two players, bring $10 mil out in 20 golf bags, dump it on the 18th green, and see who comes walking up the last fairway to take the money.
That would get my attention. Although i would probaby record the whole thing while i played a round on Sunday with my guys. After all, playing golf is what i live for.

by Bob from New Jersey
I am in agreement with your article that golf cannot and should not be like other sports. If you are going to have a playoff then have a playoff. Just as they do in tennis, seed the players and it becomes a single elimination match play tournament with the winner the last man standing. This format is the only fair one. Of course, the economic danger to the PGA, networks, sponsors, etc - is that the "names" will be eliminated and as the pack narrows the "no-names" will proliferate and the viewing audience will be lessened.
While the concept is interesting, the actuality is that as Tiger stated recently, you will be remembered for your majors won not how many FedEx cups you have won. Lastly, I believe you will not be able to successfully compete with the football season and late baseball season viewer. I do not believe you will see even a modest increase in viewers amongst the non-golfing audience.

by Ken
How can a playoff be considered legitimate when top rank players are not obligated to play in all the playoff rounds. Could it be that there is a chance they might lose and then the advertisors would pull there ads?

by iain robertson
I don't know if golf playing numbers in the USA are going down in the same way as in the UK but I guess they will be. Fewer young people are playing the game. Young adults because they cannot give five hours to every time they play, kids because fewer parents are golfers, etc. Of course golf can be a spectator sport and the big people in the media and business will want to develop that but the real game has to be among those participating and that part of the sport is diminishing. That is where the effort is required.

by Dave Johnsen
This is something that rankle. At the end of the season we use to have the "Silly Season" fun golf events that actually let us see pros having fun. The FedEx is going to become just an extension of the season. Too bad.

by Mike
Sorry Jeff, but you missed the point. For one, don't compare professional golf with any other professional team sport for the simple reason it is an individual competition. That leaves you to draw comparisons between golf and tennis or bowling and certainly diminishes the interest in what you write.
Secondly, because of the self-serving, money grabbing interests of 1) owners, 2) players, 3) corporate America, et al, every major pro sport in this country has a season way too long. With the possible exception of pro football, which should also terminate its season (the Super Bowl) the first weekend in January versus the first weekend of February, the time in between is mostly used by advertisers to hype themselves and the game. All pro sports should have 90-day seasons, period.
Golf is no exception and a season that begins in Hawaii in January and ends in some obscure place in November is absurd.
I believe the FedEx Cup will prove itself, perhaps not in 2007, but in the next few years as it is tweaked, just as has been NASCAR, MLB, etc., over the years. The elimination factor is bound to build the suspense and interest not only in golfers but in other casual observers. I'm a good example. I'm an avid golfer but most Sundays I only tune it to the last hour to hour and half of that weeks' tournament broadcast. That is when all the action occurs.
And don't talk to me about Tiger Woods. I'm going out on a limb here and projecting he will NOT win the FedEx Cup this year. Maybe sometime, but not this year. Just like the Ruth's, Abdul-Jabbar's, Jordan's, Montana's and Nicklaus', his time will pass and there may not be another truly dominate individual on the PGA Tour for years to come.
So, rather than deriding something that is unproven, why not let the contest be held, then judge the good and bad points for future consideration. NONE of the other pro sports got it right the first time they attempted to close out a season with the champ. Need another example? Try the BCS!

by Ron
After the Players Championship, the four Majors, and Tour Championship (is that still played?) why not have a different sort of competition other than one with a single medal play winner. Take the top 24 players and have a two team competiton similar to the Ryder Cup format, but throw in some "fun" competitions -- maybe a round where a player can use only three clubs, a match play where each player can take a few Mulligans. If the PGA wants to have something different then do just that -- have something different -- not another medal play event with one winner!

by Wesley M. Jaynes
I'll be frank, I don't understand why pro golf doesn't allow competition between the LPGA and the PGA on events other than exhibitions. The handicap tees are fairly set up to allow this and perhaps we might see a bit more animation from the men if they were going heads up against Natalie Gulbis who was beating them in stroke play. And please don't anyone trot out the tired argument that women can't compete against the men and use Michelle Wie or Annika as the examples. There are no fair handicaps offered when they play. They have to hit from the same place as the men. And someone else will say...why let women compete when the men are out there trying to make a living for their families. Listen to yourselves..how sexist can we possibly be? I think it is time for the mens club to remove the panty ceiling! I know....I'm crazy! But....I would certainly watch it!

by Steve
Totally agree here. I hate the idea that year's bragging rights may come down to one tournament and a bunch of high-fives. What will happen if a player (TW, for example) completes the Grandslam, all four Majors on the mantle, and then loses the FedEx? Is his season now somehow less defining by the results of this single tourney? Golf is a season-long endurance test and not a flash-in-the-pan, season ending point of light. A player's season should never, ever be based on a single event. To do so is unfair, devalues the individual's year-long achievement, and demeans the world's best players, who happen to be unluck on a given Sunday in September. Bad idea PGA. Two thumbs down.