Well, the FedExCup excitement is off to a raring start after the best player in the world has decided to skip Week One of the playoffs (yawn). Speaking of the world’s best, Lorena Ochoa has left no doubt about who is the best player on the LPGA Tour is as she notches her fifth win of the year at the Canadian Open.
This week, we have several links from a first time winner, honors for the “Great White Shark,” and a girl who just wanted to play golf.
Hole 1: Snedeker Wins His First
Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 63 at the birdie shoot-out known as the Wyndham Championship for his first PGA Tour win. [Link]
Hole 2: All She Does is Win
Lorena Ochoa won for the fifth time this year with a three-shot victory over Paula Creamer at the Canadian Women’s Open. [Link]
Hole 3: Staying Home
Tiger Woods is skipping the first week of the vaunted FedExCup and Jim Gorant takes him to task for putting his “personal interests first.” [Link]
Hole 4: Pick Me, Pick Me!
Captain Jack Nicklaus picked a couple of rookies to round out the team that will contend at the President’s Cup. [Link]
Hole 5: Honors For Norman
Greg Norman will receive the Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America for his contributions to the golf course development and the environment. [Link]
Hole 6: Promotion Blues
Nick Flanagan earned a mid-season promotion from the Nationwide Tour to the PGA Tour with his third victory this year. Too bad he has to wait a month to play due to the FedExCup. [Link]
Hole 7: Big Lead
Tiger Woods could take the next few years off and still maintain his lead in the World Golf Rankings. [Link]
Hole 8: Just Let Her Play
All Desireé Lamer wanted to do was play high school golf. Too bad some people in her town didn’t want share that dream. [Link]
Hole 9: Historical Interviews
Take a trip down memory lane with some interviews featuring Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Bob Hope. [Link]
I actually think the FedexCup is at least somewhat exciting. After the majors in previous years, golf as a fan/spectator sport kind of died; this year I will probably at least follow the leaderboards online. And I think that Tiger not being in the first tournament actually adds to the excitement since he might now have to win 2 of the remaining 3 to win it all.
Excited about the FedEx Cup? Nope, not even interested much less excited. 😐
When they did the Greg Norman introduction they forgot ‘Alltime great major choker’.
As for the Fedex Cup, it’s just a shameless promotion to try to grab some ratings and PR from what is traditionally a very dull time of year golf wise.
I don’t think fans really know what to expect since this is the first time with a playoff format in golf. Perhaps it is considered a first try from the PGA’s thinktank and perhaps there are several other formats they also would like to try out.
At least we can agree on that the reset of points was a necessity.
Personally I hope an underdog will win Barclays creating a major shift in the rankings.
Cheers from Sweden.
I’m definitely in the minority, but I support the FedExCup. I understand all of the objections–golf already has its championships, it’s just a money grab, it is unfair to the tournaments it usurped, it’s too complicated a system, it’s NASCAR, not golf, etc.–and I admit that many of these points have merit.
But golf, like all major sports, is also an entertainment product. I also think if you are a recreational golfer, it’s in your best interest for the professional tours to succeed as entertainment products.
At least the PGA Tour is trying to do something to enhance it’s entertainment value beyond the standard formula of “string of tournaments and 4 majors.” I think it’s possible that it could add significant interest to the sport.
Possible, that is, not definite. It may indeed flop. But I support the tour trying.
I like the idea of the FedEx Cup but feel it needs to be tweaked a little. I don’t like the idea that the top seed can miss the first event and still be in. Also underdogs have a next to nothing shot at the cup based on the points and how the cuts are made.
I don’t like the format of the FedEx Cup. A series of matchplay events with a smaller field would make more sense as a “playoff” than this thing they made up. How it is set up now, the bottom seed has virtually no chance of winning. In fact, Tiger not showing up to Round 1 is actually a GOOD thing for the event because it means others actually have a chance to win. If he played all 4 events, the bottom seed could WIN every tournament and still lose by 400 points if Tiger placed 2nd. Talked about a flawed setup!
I’ll watch the last 3 rounds because it’s golf and Tiger will be dominating as usual, but I’m not the least bit excited about it.