So, What's the Beef?

Phil Mickelson refuses to go into details, at this point, about what his gripes with Commissioner Tim Finchem are or the points of contention that he says have not been met. Since we probably will not hear about this in great detail, I'm going to do the catchy media thing and speculate.

To build my case, consider these facts.
1. Phil Mickelson - prior to this season - usually shut it down after the PGA Championship. He played in a WGC event if scheduled that late in the year, sometimes in the Tour Championship, and in the President's/Ryder Cup. Phil likes quitting after the majors end. It's his choice.
2. Phil Mickelson does not play much golf on any tour after August. He's not much of a player in silly season events. Rather, he participates in corporate outings from time to time with a large, guaranteed appearance fee. This way, he can pick and choose locations where he will travel and can still spend a significant amount of time with his kids.
3. The FedEx Cup was designed so that the best players would hypothetically have to play Akron, the PGA Championship, four FEC events, and then the Ryder/President's Cup. Basically, seven events in nine weeks when, in previous years, they would have to play in three or four.
4. Tim Finchem makes almost $5 million guaranteed per season by serving as Commissioner. Right now, only two guys on the money list (Tiger and Phil) are making that much on the PGA Tour season.

I hope you can see where I'm going with this.

Tim Finchem makes more money guaranteed per year than almost every Tour cardholder. He designs a concept that compels players to make double the number of tournaments starts that the best players would make otherwise. The money in those events is by no means guaranteed - even if the purses are larger than normal in the Playoffs. Also, the Tour consolidated $35 million into annuities that will not actually pay off in NPV terms to players how they could.

Many Tour players do not like the money structure. (Some support it - DL3, Furyk among them.) Many of them do not even know how the points system works. They have said publicly that they did not feel consulted by Tim Finchem on this concept. All of a sudden, they now are asked to repeat the corporate mantra for the good of the Tour - even though they really don't agree with it.

The Playoffs and FEC are marketed as being good for the future of the game (they are, by the way) and created to make the best congregate on the same venue, more often. If Phil and Tiger and Ernie and the A-listers don't play in these events, they would be branded as quitters, jerks, and selfish. (That's already happened - on this blog even.)

As a result, the best players feel a tremendous amount of pressure and cornering to enter all four FEC events if they qualify for them. Therefore, they're likely to play in the FEC events. By doing this, they're losing time that they normally spend with their family. (Phil Mickelson had his family in Boston this week, and they went to the BoSox no-no. So, consider that later.) Also, they have tighter schedules that do not allow them the same extent of freedom to cash in on free money at corporate outings and in overseas tournament appearance fees. Finchem, meanwhile, is still making $5 million.

Basically, nothing has really changed for Tim Finchem as a result of the FEC. He makes more money than he used to before the FEC, actually. He can still spew the same bewildering corporate speak at press conferences. The sponsors are happy with his assurances. The TV contract is locked up in his eyes - even though many players were initially very concerned about the 15 year gig given to TGC. (As it turns out, in my opinion, that was a good thing.) The last few truths bring up a serious question that really may be the heart of this entire situation for Mickelson:

For whom does Tim Finchem work - the PLAYERS or the CORPORATE SPONSORS?

It's a crucial question, especially for the PGA Tour elite players. Still, a prolonged fight between a bunch of millionaires does not exactly make the Tour look good or work well for the PR guys who are already trying to fix up several crucial WDs in the past two weeks - and a potentially huge third on the way. These guys are arguing over millions of dollars that they're going to probably somehow still make.

Yes, Tiger and Phil are now inconvenienced because they have been pigeonholed into playing in the FedEx Cup. It is pretty clear that Tim Finchem put them in this situation and is not doing too good of a job in representing the interests of the players. It's probably better for the game, though, that this fight happens behind closed doors.

For as much as I would like for it to be in the open, this is just another distraction from a playoff concept that has seen a lot of bad press. Were it not for the feel great story of Steve Stricker and the Woods-Mickelson showdown on Monday in Boston, the FedEx Cup would have nothing good going for it. (Don't underestimate the value of those stories. They tournaments have been very compelling.) Even with those two positives, the Cup leader may not keep the good vibrations going on course if he never shows up at Cog Hill. Then what?