Fall Finish Problems

The Fall Finish has produced a very nice event so far in three tries - the Valero Texas Open throwback to the 1997 British Open in which Justin Leonard toppled Jesper Parnevik on the final day. The lousy fields, low prize money, and uninspiring venues have caused low attendance and probably pretty ugly ratings.

Tournaments stuck at this part of the schedule are there not by volition, but because the Tour relegated them there. Several tournament organizers have said they will be lobbying for better dates (read: "Please! I want to be IN the FedEx Cup!"). They will likely not get them for some time to come. Thus, these events need something to provide motivation to better players to tee it up in their towns. Money is not going to do it - the best players have more than enough. What's the solution then?

Well, mine would be to officially cut down the schedule to the FedEx Cup season only. But, since I'm not Commish and the players would stage a coup d'etat if that happened, Steve Elling turned to PGA Tour Policy Board member Joe Durant for help. Among the quotes in the piece, this one stuck out at me:

Among the players we have talked about it, for events in the fall, maybe the thing to do is to award points for the next year -- give guys an incentive to play. Nobody is telling anybody they have to play, but if they do play and play well, you have a jumpstart on '08 and '09, whatever year it might be. It gives these tournaments something extra. These are still good golf tournaments. Even if they awarded points like they did at the opposite events this season, by giving half the regular (FedEx) points, anything is better than nothing. I don't see a negative.

This idea works under the current FedEx Cup format that allows 144 guys into the Playoffs. After all, it is a token invite for all of the guys after 90 to perhaps have a shot at 2 events in the Playoffs. If the number of players that qualify for the FEC gets lower, though, then this idea would be awful. Players that care to take a rest in October and November would potentially get hosed come the following September. There would be a LOT of complaining.

Durant, though, is right: there are still some good tournaments in this series. The Disney event is a great one. The Texas Open has a lot of history, even if I don't like La Cantera one bit. The Vegas event is fun and I am partial to Sin City. Ginn has sponsored some great LPGA Tour events and I would expect nothing less in their PGA Tour event.

Still, why would you have events on the schedule that are being played just because players want to have a shot at money? With lousy public interest, many events are canned. Just look at the house cleaning that Ty Votaw did on the LPGA Tour a few years ago. It worked for the better. Top to bottom, the LPGA Tour schedule is much stronger and has fewer events.

This is a no win situation for some good events that are getting the shaft from the Ponte Vedra crew.