It's Almost Over, Everyone!

The Fall Series will come to an end this week at Disneyworld. The Children's Miracle Network Classic (really, you had to have a nonprofit title sponsor?!) will wrap up the seven event Fall Series. Bob Harig over at ESPN has a nice quote from Steve Flesch, who has performed very well in these events:

There were 100 people following the final group last Sunday in Scottsdale. It's like a glorified club championship. I don't think that's what the tour intended. And I think they need to address it.

That's not even an exaggeration, guys. If you were among the people who watched the Tesoro event this week, as an alternative to God knows what (in my case, the Redskins getting crushed by the Patriots), you know the crowds reached a new level of sparseness. Want some numbers on attendance? Harig has them:

At the Frys.com Open in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, general admission was just $5, and yet estimates put attendance for the week at less than 11,000 spectators. In Scottsdale, Ariz., at the Fry's Electronics Open, less than 30,000 attended for the week, with just over 5,000 at the final round. Remember, this is a market that traditionally attracts more than 100,000 spectators on a single day to the FBR Open.

The sad thing is that these events are actually good in terms of the quality of golf. We had a dramatic win for Justin Leonard over a gritty Parnevik in Texas. Mike Weir became a winner again, as did Chad Campbell. Steve Flesch impressed in New York.

Without star power, though, people do not watch golf. Apparently, the PGA Tour did not see this coming. I am willing to wager, though, that they were smart enough to wait until the Fall Series ended before announcing any scheduling and FedEx Cup changes for next season. For as measured as Ponte Vedra is, it would be no surprise that they wanted to see just how bad the fields, crowds, and ratings were for these events before they decided what to do with them.

The options on the table:
1. Scrap them. That will not fly.
2. Incorporate a few into the FedEx Cup - preferrably the Las Vegas and Disney events. Kill the rest. That makes the season a touch longer.
3. Put some of these events opposite others on the schedule. There are so many limited field events now that this is possible, but that will not drive up attendance probably. It certainly will not improve ratings.
4. Keep the Fall Series and award a reduced pool of the next year's FedEx Cup points in these events to encourage some to play. Probably will not produce results, though.
5. Start the season with these events, as Harig says Matt Kuchar suggested. Why? The season is then not reduced at all. That was the whole point.

All of these options are seriously flawed. So, I'm going to throw out a crazy option 6. Follow me here.

First, let's go ahead and scrap FedEx Cup points. We basically are using the money list converted into points now. Let's go back to just money. It'll make the rank-and-file feel better about playing in alternate field events, even if only a little.

To get into the playoffs, you have to get into the top 125 on the money list. This way, a guy like Rich Beem could make some headway and guarantee his Tour card without a problem in the Playoffs. It adds storylines to guys on the bottom half of the Playoff participants.

Now that the season is based on money, we cut down the official Tour season to the end of the Playoffs. At that point, the drive to keep your Tour card begins. Remember Q-school? The most punishing 7 days of a Tour player's life? Let's make that seven weeks. Tour players with active status that are out of the top 100 at the end of the Playoffs are automatically entered into the PGA Tour Quest for their Job.

The Tour creates a money-based competition for the final 25 fully exempt spots. Everyone starts at 0. In essence, it's 25 spots for 100 guys. The seven winners will clearly lock up their cards, so winning will mean something transparent to everyone. Now it's 18 spots for 93 guys. That should create some naturally exciting golf because every shot will add up in the end. Also, there will be continuity in fields from week to week since these players will want to keep their cards. That will allow the Tour to actually market these players and their stories - something they are horrible at doing right now.

Since there aren't any "stars" playing now in the Fall Series, just go ahead an eliminate the B-list guys too. They're just playing to line their pockets. (EDIT: In the off chance a reader took this as anything other than hyperbole, let me be clear. There IS incentive to play in these events for B-level guys. The top 70 and top 30 on the season ending money list means invitations to lots of significant events. Let's carry on now.) People like drama in their sports, regardless of who is playing. Let's give it to them.

Or we could just always introduce option 7: instate a rule that every PGA Tour player must play in each event on the schedule once every 3 years. Oh wait, they're independent contractors.