Local Sports Columnist Misses Point, Will Attend Barclays

So, the PGA Tour Playoffs are here and I could not be more excited. Take that how you want.

Anyway, the first leg of the Playoff race is the Barclays. It's being held at Ridgewood CC in New Jersey after a big to-do and fallout with Westchester CC. As you may or may not be aware, Tiger Woods is injured and will not be competing. I can promise you, though, that CBS is intimately aware of that fact and what it will mean for golf ratings on their air. (But, the Golf Channel may have an improvement over last year!)

Ian O'Connor, of the North Jersey newspaper The Record, seems to have lost that point.

[T]he dent [of Woods' injury] didn't cause irreparable damage to the first installment of the PGA Tour's second playoff season, known as the FedEx Cup. In fact, Tiger's absence could serve to improve the game's long-term health.

Really? Because were it not for Padraig Harrington, this season would have been a complete lost cause. Woods would have had exactly zero challengers for the Player of the Year award - which would've been a real blow to the players healthy enough to finish the season. And, with the overthinking of Phil Mickelson and aging putting stroke of Vijay Singh exposed, it could be argued that the game is in some deep doo-doo if Paddy doesn't keep this going.

Even worse, O'Connor is convinced that the Barclays will help determine the rival to Woods.

Golf has burned for legitimate threats to Woods' reign to emerge, anyway, and with Tiger down and out significant events such as The Barclays become the perfect places for those men – whoever they are – to finally declare themselves.

News Flash: It's Paddy Harrington and, at least this week, also Anthony Kim.

Look, I know this is a local paper and the guy is trying to promote an event that is going to feel awfully empty without Woods. (Then again, Woods skipped at Westchester last year.) But fans should feel some comfort in the host course. It's a golden age gem no matter who is playing it.