ANALYSIS-Golf-Woods and Mickelson highlight successful FedExCup (Reuters)
September 28, 2009
By Mark Lamport-Stokes
ATLANTA, Sept 28 (Reuters) – After two successive years oftweaking the points structure for the lucrative FedExCup playoffevents, the PGA Tour appears to have come close to finding theideal recipe to produce a blockbuster finale.
The season-long points race ended with a flourish at theTour Championship on Sunday with four players having theopportunity to clinch the $10 million bonus over the last nineholes at East Lake Golf Club.
World number one Tiger Woods, the most consistent golferduring the 2009 campaign, ultimately took the title afterfinishing second at East Lake, three shots behind fellowAmerican Phil Mickelson.
Although eyebrows may be raised over the fact that Woodsclinched the grand prize despite not winning the final playoffevent, there was agreement among the players that the correctresult had been achieved.
“I didn’t play well the first three FedExCup events,”Mickelson told reporters after sealing his 37th PGA Tour victorywith a flawless 65 in tough conditions.
“I don’t deserve to win the entire FedExCup just based onone tournament win. The best player won, the guy who played thebest in all four events won, but I liked the fact that I wasable to make up extra ground here in the final event.”
Woods, who won the inaugural FedExCup in 2007 after coastingto an eight-stroke victory in the Tour Championship, recognisedthe need to hit form late in the season.
“The whole idea is to play well at the end and that’s kindof how it’s structured,” said the 33-year-old, who led thepoints standings going into the Tour Championship after winningthe third playoff event, the BMW Championship.
RIGHT TIMES
“You just have to play well at the right times,” addedWoods, who won six title on the 2009 PGA Tour. “It is what itis. It’s very similar to what they do with NASCAR, what they tryto do with playoffs in other sports.”
When the FedExCup series was launched in 2007, the pointssystem was too rigid, leaving players with far too much groundto make up on the leaders going into the final stretch.
Last year, the final playoff event proved to beanti-climactic with Vijay Singh merely needing to show up forthe Tour Championship to clinch the trophy.
What had been dubbed as the PGA Tour’s much-trumpeted newera in 2007 ended limply in 2008 as Fijian Singh simply neededto complete the final round after winning the first two playoffevents.
This year, however, was a very different story with everyplayer in the field of 30 having a chance to seal FedExCuphonours.
The Tour’s bold attempt in 2007 to breathe life into itslate-season events with a NASCAR-style finale has finally caughtthe attention of the fans and especially the players.
“It’s provided a lot of excitement,” said Steve Stricker,who briefly edged ahead of Woods in the race on Sunday beforeslipping back with bogeys on 16 and 17.
“All the players coming in here had a legitimate chance atwinning the FedExCup. It was certainly a lot closer than it hasbeen over the last two years.
“I gave it a run, and it was a lot of fun,” added theAmerican, who finished third in the points standings behindWoods and Mickelson.
The 2009 FedExCup was unquestionably a success, althoughsome have suggested further excitement could be injected byswitching the Tour Championship finale to a matchplay format.Time will tell if further tweaks will be made for 2010. (Editing by Ed Osmond. To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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