We are about halfway through the first ever race for the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour. Before I tell you, can you think of who is the leader in the standings? The odds are that you cannot. The answer, by the way, is Vijay Singh. You probably do not care, though. Even I — as someone who was calling for something like to FedEx Cup to be implemented — am not too invested in the week to week standings except for when I update them on my website.
The Tour has not done a very good job in creating inherent excitement about the FedEx Cup. The failures began with the design of the playoff system. In previous columns, I have discussed how the points system is designed to guarantee that the best players (even those with very lazy schedules) will at least make the first playoff tournament. Further, the number of players — 144 — that will qualify in total for the first playoff tournament automatically takes something away from the concept of the FedEx Cup.
In no other sport do approximately 70% of teams or individuals qualify for the playoffs. That's essentially what is happening with the FedEx Cup, though. More players will qualify for the first event of the four in the playoffs than those that will actually maintain their Tour card under the money list exemption — which is 125, just in case it has become foggy. Really, the playoffs for the PGA Tour FedEx Cup do not begin until the second event of the series when the initial field of 144 is pared down to 90 players, which is a number slightly less than the usual field for an invitational Tour event.
The NBA is as frivolous with its playoff invites as the FedEx Cup appears to be. Sixteen of 30 teams in the NBA get into the playoffs. Fans of the NBA concede that the regular season is almost rendered meaningless by both this fact and the sheer length of the regular season. Players discreetly show their laissez-faire attitude toward the regular season by obviously tanking a few games here and there.
Even with the reality recognized by sporting fans, the fans of the NBA and casual sporting fans still talk about the league throughout the regular season. Fans and media question the direction of teams, which might be most likely to make a playoff run, and speculate about true championship contenders. Somehow, despite a reality that says there is no need to fret, NBA fans still are intrigued by the playoff structure during the regular season.
This is not true for the PGA Tour, though. It has become frustrating at the beginning of each golf telecast to see that the PGA Tour is proudly presenting the FedEx Cup. Sprinkled throughout statistical graphics is a player's position in the FedEx Cup standings. Casual mention is made to the points race by commentators. Despite the subtle reminder about the FedEx Cup to viewers, when the tournament of the week is settled, the viewers and fans rarely are presented with a live update concerning the FedEx Cup. Perhaps the PGA Tour broadcasting partners just do not care that much about the Cup.
The cynic in me has seen this trend and it has led me to an even scarier question — does the PGA Tour even care about the FedEx Cup? Think about it for a moment. For as much as I would like to think journalists and fans had a hand in the FedEx Cup coming to fruition, it was really the vocal complaints of Tiger Woods about season length and providing meaning to it that caused this points race to be instituted. The Tour recognized one of Tiger's demands and they succumbed to it in order to placate him. If you can accept that as the true reason for the FedEx Cup, then the PGA Tour developed the concept as a way of keeping some players happy, not a method of revolutionizing how the Tour is perceived.
After the initial tidal wave of commercials promoting the FedEx Cup, the Tour has certainly scaled back the promotion of the race. The commercials still air from time to time and the Tour still has a part of its website actively dedicated to the FedEx Cup standings. The Tour still refuses to display the money list prominently on their stats page and the standings are visible in the media room at every tournament site. Those are not unique and outstanding promotional efforts, though. In fact, those are very much the same efforts that the PGA Tour used to make to keep fans interested in the top 30 players on the money list and determining who would qualify for the Tour Championship — now the final event of the FedEx Cup season.
The PGA Tour gave up on the Tour Championship as a concept of finality to a long, 11-month season. Fans did not really buy into the concept of the event because it usually had little weight in determining the money list winner or the player of the year. Over time, the Tour Championship evolved into a final money grab for the best players and for those hard working journeymen that found a way into the top 30. Beyond that, it was another tournament on the schedule that just happened to be the last.
To replace that and perhaps enhance it in accordance with Tiger's wishes, the Tour developed a four tournament finale. The Tour acknowledges, though, that it has done extensive modeling of points scenarios and determined that a player has to be within the top 20 percent of initial qualifiers (around top 30 players) to have a statistical hope of winning the FedEx Cup and its $10 million payout. In essence, the Tour has implemented a much longer version of the Tour Championship. It is entirely possible that the FedEx Cup could be determined before September and the Tour knows it. In essence, the FedEx Cup could become as much of a lame duck as the Tour Championship was. Fans could withdraw support for a FedEx Cup that allows that to happen. Could that be the cause of what has become a fairly obvious pullback in promoting the FedEx Cup?
Perhaps the Tour is instituting the FedEx Cup this year as a way of at least getting the concept running. Its format is subject to change and can certainly improve with a better points distribution system and more stringent requirements to qualify for the final playoff series. They know that the FedEx Cup as it exists now will not be around all that long. In that case, why promote it? Wait until the FedEx Cup represents something that will really strike a chord with golf fans and then resume the media blitz.
It is my hope that this is the case. Despite my stated complaints, the FedEx Cup does have an opportunity to succeed if retooled appropriately. One season of the FedEx Cup has not even finished yet and it will take this season to see how it can possibly unfold to discover the potential excitement it can create in future years. The PGA Tour needs to continue presenting tempered enthusiasm for the concept, recognize its current inherent flaws, and more fully promote the FedEx Cup and its potential. If it succeeds in doing that, the needed coming tweaks to the FedEx Cup will be perceived as a move by the Tour to create a more exciting product for fans and will resonate with the people that go crazy for this game, like me.
Leave a Comment