The Fed Ex Cup, your thoughts?

[Butcho22]

Wiki linky

"Playoff rewards
The player with the most points after The Tour Championship will win the FedEx Cup itself and $10 million of a $35 million bonus fund. The runner-up gets $3 million, 3rd place $2 million, 4th place $1.5 million, 5th place $1 million, and so on down to $32,000 for 144th place.

The winner of the FedEx Cup will also receive a five year exemption on the PGA Tour."


$10 million for 1st place is certainly enough to ensure all the big names will play at least 3 out of 4 of the Fed Ex Cup Tournaments.

All of the 4 tournaments have a total prizepool of $7 million. Which I'm guessing means right around $2 million for 1st place. (give or take a few mill)

If someone (Tiger) can win two tournaments and take the Cup, ship the $14 million. Not bad for one months work [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

It's obvious this is nowhere near winning a major championship as far as accomplishments go, (winning the overall Cup, $10 mill) but I think it's good for the game.

I'd be interested to hear from those who maybe disagree and think this whole thing is just stupid, because I can't think of a reason to not like the idea.

[tuq]

Bitcho,

I certainly have nothing against it, but for a sport rife with tradition it just has such a manufactured feel to it. Not to mention it is sponsored and the FedEx name has been shoved down our throats all year, which gives fuel to the critics who have likened the whole thing to the NASCAR points race.

On the plus side, the purses are so big (although for the best/richest of the players on tour the money isn't as eye-popping) that we should get a nice run of consecutive full-field events.

I'm withholding judgment until I see how it all plays out.

[shemp]

I'm also in wait and see mode. And by wait and see, I mean give it a few years.

Yearly calendar changes are a constant, but sometimes they annoy me-- and I liked where the Westchester was.

I don't know what it means for the President's Cup, either.

Also curious about the events afterward-- will they seem even more like Nationwide or silly season.

[HDPM]

As mentioned, we will have to see. But overall I think it will be bad. The playoffs are forced and phony really. There have been negative consequences already, and there may be more. I have read some sponsors are upset because they pay a bunch of money to put on the tournament and then Fedex gets their logo on everything. I think Arnold had to fight some to keep fedex stuff at a bit lower visibility at Bay Hill. The Western Open got dumped/converted to BMW. The International can't get a sponsor or the date they need, the Washington tournament gets dumped and treated poorly basically from what I read about it, and lo and behold Tiger gets a limited field event in Washington with the International's date, at a course other than the one the tour was going to renovate or whatever. Not blaming Tiger, but the tour went away from some established "partners." The events after the fedex cup are marginalized, and don't get the Masters invitation. Granted these events had to compete with football and weren't huge, but the fall schedule may have some problems. One other problem with the fedex cup thing was making it harder to get into tournaments in the early part of the year. This makes it very hard for guys coming out of Q-School or off the Nationwide Tour with lower priority to get in to many tournaments early on.

It will take a while to see the overall effect tho.

[Troll_Inc]

I'm looking forward to it and willing to give it a chance at least for the first year. If it ends up being good exciting golf, then it will have been a success. Has to be almost on the same level as the last day of the British or the weekend at the Masters or US Open this year.

But if some schmuck comes out of nowhere to win it, then it will suck.

[HDPM]

The only way it will be exciting as far as who wins it is if some guy who needs the money wins. Some Jason Gore/Rich Beem story. Seeing Tiger or Phil get a big check that can cover yacht paneling or shipping furniture to the house they rent for a tournament won't be that great. Yeah, if they play great and the finish is exciting it is good, but I doubt a lot of prestige will be attached to it.

[stadler]

I think it is a great idea. I think it will keep people interested throughout the year because of the enormous paydays at the end of the year. IMO it was a great way to try to get the top players to play in more events. It turned out to pay off because today I heard Tiger committed to play 6 of the next 7 weeks including all of the playoffs. Hopefully it is successful and draws more interest into the end of the year tournaments. I guess we will just have to wait and see though.

[sean c]

I am an old fart so I just gonna wait and see but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna just veiw it as a silly season event with a jacked up purse. That said with so many big names playing end of the year events it will be a huge pay day for the tour. Also these guys are gonna be worn out by the time the Presidents/Ryder Cups roll around.

[Butcho22]

[ QUOTE ]
The only way it will be exciting as far as who wins it is if some guy who needs the money wins. Some Jason Gore/Rich Beem story. Seeing Tiger or Phil get a big check that can cover yacht paneling or shipping furniture to the house they rent for a tournament won't be that great. Yeah, if they play great and the finish is exciting it is good, but I doubt a lot of prestige will be attached to it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I understand what you mean, but I'm not really looking at it that way. I'm just looking at it as a golf fan who is excited to see all the big names play some more tournies together.
I agree that not much prestige will be attached to winning the Fed Ex Cup...and I've found some of the ads on t.v. by the PGA Tour to be a bit annoying. They're hyping it like it's going to be some great championship series that players want to win as bad as the majors. Simply not true, but they have to advertise as such and I can understand them going that route.

I'm just pushing that all aside and looking at is as a great opportunity to see some top notch golf.

If the Cup stays around long enough, eventually the title will come down to the final few holes of the last tounament. "If he can par these last two holes, he wins $2 million first place plus the Fed Ex Cup title which is worth an extra $10 million"

That would be fun to watch no matter who is involved.

[Butcho22]

[ QUOTE ]
Tiger committed to play 6 of the next 7 weeks including all of the playoffs

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