By Ron Sirak
Photo: Jeff Gross/Getty Images
August 20, 2007
OK, so let's give them this: The FedEx Cup has created intense anticipation. But it's not so much about who's positioned where going into this week's Barclays -- the first of four consecutive FedEx Cup playoff tournaments -- but rather just exactly how this is all going to play out. Though the folks at PGA Tour headquarters probably won't admit it, even they must be wondering if the second-ever playoffs in professional golf will produce high drama or high anxiety. One thing for sure, they should be glad Tiger Woods is skipping The Barclays. That's right, glad.
First off, you're probably saying, "second-ever playoffs? I thought this was the first." Well, it's the first only if you don't count last year's debut of the ADT Championship, the LPGA season-ending event in which the field is determined by a year-long qualifying system that builds toward a Sunday finish in which eight players, starting from scratch after being whittled down from 32 through 54 holes, play 18 holes with $1 million going to the winner and $100,000 to the runner-up. So there's that.
Then there is this little matter of Tiger skipping the first-ever tournament of the second-ever playoffs. The guy says he's tired after playing two weeks in a row -- and winning both. That apparently answers those questions about how fatherhood will affect Tiger. Those late-night feedings must be taking a toll on a 31-year-old guy who just might be the most-fit physical specimen ever to play professional golf. Maybe the tour should pony up some money to hire him a night nurse.
Tiger said all the right things when he opted out of The Barclays -- how he still supports the FedEx Cup, how he had always intended to play all four and how he still plans to bank the $10 million annuity that goes to the Tour Championship winner. But, between the lines, wasn't he really saying that once he got his hands on the Wannamaker Trophy that goes to the PGA Championship winner, his season was over?
That's a point many will be willing to debate, especially those at tour headquarters. But the more I think about it the more strongly I feel that it's a good thing Woods is skipping The Barclays. In fact, I propose that he be forced to skip one of the three playoff events leading up to the Tour Championship each year. It's sort of like how in horse racing they put extra weight on the best horses to try to even up the field. It's only fair that Tiger skip The Barclays. It gives the other guys a fighting chance.
Back in the 1970s there was a thoroughbred racehorse by the name of Forego. He had the misfortune of being born the same year as Secretariat, which is sort of like having the bad luck of being a professional golfer with eyes on major championships competing at the same time as Woods. Beating the best is difficult enough; beating the best ever is close to impossible.
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