Missing the Point?

In contrast to Singh, Garcia struggled on the second -- and last -- playoff hole.

That goose-bump binge eliminated Kevin Sutherland, the third sudden-death contestant, and sent the two survivors to the par-5 17th. Garcia lost his drive on the edge of a hazard left of the fairway. Singh knocked his second shot to within 25 feet of the flag for the second time in a half-hour, and before you knew it, the excitement had come to an end. Although this didn't compare to the major-championship misfortunes inflicted on him by Padraig Harrington, Sergio's tendency to lose tournaments in agonizing fashion would continue, although he hasn't gotten much better at talking about those defeats without leaking excuses.

"I didn't think it was that bad," Garcia said of the miss with the driver, normally his most dependable club. "Obviously, it clipped a tree and spun a little to the left, and I didn't get the best of lies." On making a 27-footer for what looked like the game-winning birdie moments earlier, only to see Singh match it, Sergio sounded as if he had been handed a life sentence on the dark side of fate. "Well, it happens," he added. "What can you do? You can't take it the wrong way."

Too bad the same can't be said of the postseason point-distribution process. Blame all the modifications on Woods, who skipped the first playoff tilt last August and still claimed the grand prize by more than 12,000 points, a margin most recently popularized by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. When the tour's Policy Board began reviewing the first FedEx Cup finish in late 2007, it came up with two primary objectives: create dramatic movement in the standings and make the superstars play in all four postseason events. Thus, the decision was made to turn up the dials on everything that would encourage volatility.

The problem? Almost everyone ignored the fragility. Singh earned 11,000 points for winning the Barclays -- just eight players reached that total in the entire regular season. You want crazy? A solo third at one of the first three playoff tournaments pays 5,400 points, which is more than Trevor Immelman, Woods, Padraig Harrington (and Harrington again) got for each of their major championship victories earlier this year. Simply making the cut at Ridgewood was worth 2,098, almost 400 points more than Rich Beem got for a solo third a week earlier in Greensboro.

Seriously, folks, you can't make up this stuff. "We went overboard," acknowledged policy board member Joe Ogilvie. "We overcooked it, and I'm sure we'll revise [again], but at least we know we took it too far.

"We were given various [projections], so we fully knew what we were getting into," Ogilvie added. "Mark Wilson [a member of the Player Advisory Council] was the one guy who thought we were going too far. I remember him warning us of what might happen. The problem isn't so much the player who wins as it is the player who finishes 135th, makes two [postseason] cuts and jumps into the top 70. That's not in the spirit of the playoffs, or shouldn't be."

Such was the case with Martin Laird. He entered the final regular-season event 162nd on the money list and outside the top 144 among FedEx Cup qualifiers. At Greensboro he made the cut on the number, then shot 64-63 on the weekend to finish T-4 and make the playoffs at No. 128. Laird's T-7 at Ridgewood elevated him all the way to 67th. God bless America. "We equated playing well with making the cut, which was a mistake," Ogilvie summarized. "The players wanted movement and the fans probably want movement, but I think we got a little too infatuated with the concept. The policy board and PAC get the blame there. One thing the system should do is make everyone play. We did solve that issue."