What is the Future of The FedEx Cup?

Two years ago, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, Tim Finchem, came up with this great idea.  Shorten the regular season, create a playoff system, and create a four-tournament dash to the finish.

It initially sounded like a great idea. The first problem though was that the players weren't buying into it, at least not the players who mattered, like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (both skipped at least one of the four playoff events that year).

The second problem was that the format was anti-climatic. The first FedEx Cup included a memorable duel between Tiger and Phil in Boston, but Mickelson bailed out the following week and skipped the BMW Championship in Chicago. 

This allowed Tiger to run away with the Cup without a fight. The following week was a culmination of greatness, a rout by Tiger at the Tour Championship.

Well with a few tweaks to the system, the PGA Tour commenced its second playoff campaign with a boom.  Tiger's incredible win at the US Open was the story of the year in golf and perhaps the best sports performance of the year period, by any athlete. 

Tiger's ensuing knee injury would bring all of that excitement to an end. The second edition of the tour playoffs was anything but exciting. Vijay's early success in the playoffs set up a situation in which the cup was decided before the final event, the Tour Championship. 

The end result, the success of the Ryder Cup fueled by an American victory was the only real significant golf story outside of Tiger's US Open triumph this year.

So what does the Tour do now? There is speculation according to a report from The Golf Channel, that there are new ideas being tossed around to amend the FedEx Cup format again. I have a few ideas of my own.

First, reduce the field. Starting out with 144 players in a way diminishes the prestige of the playoffs in my mind. Start the field at 100 players max, then progressively draw down the field as the Tour does already.

Second, shorten the playoffs from four events to three. There is enough going on around that time of year to force golfers to endure four straight weeks of playoff golf, right after the PGA Championship, and the WGC event two weeks prior to the final major of the year.

Third, put more emphasis on the Tour championship. This is already the idea somewhat, but there has to be more on the line in the last event. Perhaps even more points awarded to the winner of the final event. This would help create a scenario in which the cup would come down to the final round of the season.

Of course, you can only do so much to guarantee an exciting finish. Finally, I would push the start of the season back a month.  Let American golf fans miss the sport a little bit. Start the season around the first or second week of February.

It wouldn't hurt the tour to cut even a few more events and move them to the "fall series." In my mind, having an even shorter season would allow the top players to play each other on a more consistent basis. Once again, this is just my opinion.

There may not be any great solution to the FedEx cup. It is obviously going to be around for a while, and it could gain in prestige as the years go by.

It does behoove the PGA Tour to act quickly though.  The Race to Dubai has just begun on the European Tour, and has already generated interest from other prominent PGA Tour players like Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas, according to the Golf Channel. 

With Tiger coming back next year, the eyes of the golf world will once again all be focused on the United States and the PGA Tour.  Hopefully, we will have some late season drama to culminate the season that will be.  We shall see.