PGA Tour.com is carrying a RealAudio stream of Tim Finchem’s announcement (see previous coverage here), so we’re going to do something a little different: live blog it.
10:05 – Someone can’t figure out how to use the microphone, as it’s on. We are treated to interesting talk about how we’re going to leave the A/C off until Tim is done with his talk.
10:08 – Casually late, Tim eases into his speech.
10:10 – Tim says “we’re not gonna talk about the details of our schedule today.” Someone in the back groans.
10:15 – Tim, despite saying we’re not going to talk about it, talks about it. Details include:
- “If you consider that we don’t have a strong finish like in other sports, or a playoff system, we wanted to create one.”
- “And you want to create a dramatic finish with a year-long points competition.”
- “… on better courses and with better fields…”
- “… and a real season…”
- “January-through-September, based on points structure to be determined.”
- “FedEx will be the sponsor of the ‘FedEx Cup’.”
The field for the Tour Championship is small, but the prize money is awesome. The best players on the PGA Tour battle it out all year to make it into the top-30 on the money list, and the Tour Championship is their reward for doing so. The field this week will be playing for an overall purse of $6 million, with a little over a million going to the winner. The golf courses selected for this event are always respectable, and this week is no different. 
Phil Mickelson decided on Friday 
The Chrysler Championship is the last full-field event before the season-ending Tour Championship. There is really only one key story to keep an eye on this week, and that is the race to finish in the top-30 on the PGA Tour money list. Sure, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Adam Scott, and David Toms are all top-ten golfers playing this week, but those guys have their spots wrapped up. The guys near the 30th position will be sweating it out the most this week.
With a final-round 65 and a small collapse by Justin Rose, who bogeyed two of his last three holes after getting to -23, Lucas Glover birdies the final two holes to win the Funai Classic and his first PGA Tour event. Last year’s winner, Ryan Palmer, finishes T3 one back of Vijay Singh’s buddy Tom Pernice, Jr., parring his last five holes.
The 2005 PGA Tour season is winding down in a hurry. There are only three more events before the season-ending Tour Championship, so golfers will be trying to finish strong in hopes of qualifying. The top 30 on the PGA Tour money list will get the opportunity to play in the Tour Championship, and there are a lot of golfers on the “bubble.”
Five days after Michelle Wie turns pro, Tiger Woods shows her the way to true fame, admiration, and status: by winning golf tournaments. The youngster has won but one major competition – the 2003 U.S. Women’s Public Links Championship – to go along with several disappointing finishes in LPGA events and missed cuts on the PGA Tour.