The FedEx Cup is a Joke, what is the PGA thinking?

FedEx Cup is a Joke

The Fed Ex Cup started this week! Somebody pinch me!

Forgive my cynicism, but pro golf already has a playoff system. It’s called the majors.

But sure enough, the PGA has tried to go the way of NASCAR, instituting an arcane, meaningless points system in its end-of-year events in a craven attempt to grab a few more dollars before the NFL usurps America’s attention. I, it should go without saying at this point, am not buying.

Like most sports fans, I pay attention to golf exactly four times a year, five in a Ryder Cup year. I care about who wins the John Deere Classic every bit as much as I care about the sales of R. Kelly’s "In The Closet, Vol. 54," which is to say: not at all. I acknowledge that a nearly-year-long golf tour is necessary, if only to give Bubba Watson and Jim Nantz something to do with themselves, but I don’t have to watch it. In fact, I refuse to watch it.

There’s a reason ESPN isn’t shelling out big dough to cover golf events anymore, and it’s this: other than the majors, there’s about as much weekly drama in a golf tournament as there is watching tide pools. Will this millionaire beat that millionaire to add to his coffers? Will this spindly-armed little puss-ball bark at a cameraman for having the temerity to click his camera on said puss-ball’s backswing? Who can make the most constipated faces while swinging a golf club?

Even the sport’s biggest star (and about the only one who definitively isn’t spindly-armed), Tiger Woods, understands what an utter sham the Fed Ex cup is. He’s not attending the first event of the playoffs. Imagine if they invited the Cleveland Indians to the wild card round, and the Indians said, "Yeah, no thanks. I’ll be on my yacht." The points idea works in NASCAR because NASCAR already had the idea of a "playoff" ingrained in the sport. There always were points in stock-car racing, and so there always was a "points champion." In golf, how can Rory Sabatini be allowed to earn points in an event where the top 10 players in the world don’t even play. It’d be like saying to Johnny Sauter: "Hey, Johnny. You just won at Daytona, so even though Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. declined to attend, here’s a playoff entry form."

Yes, this is a money-grab, and it makes no sense, because points don’t make sense in this sport, because not enough of the athletes actually participate in enough events. When your own superstars are caught yawning at the format? Not a good sign. I’ll be watching preseason football, thank you very much.

View 2007 PGA Golf Betting Odds including odds to win the 2007 FedEx Cup at Bodog.com

by: Michael Cash – theSpread.com – Email Us