On Monday at TPC Boston, Bryce Molder stood over an eagle putt on the 18th green from the back fringe. Molder was ranked No. 74 in FedEx Cup points going into the Deutsche Bank Championship, and needed to get down in two for birdie if he hoped to make it to the next week, cash another check and hopefully finish high enough to join the Tour Championship field.Molder's eagle putt nestled snugly to about a foot from the hole, he tapped it in and the 30-year-old added his name to the top-70 in the field this week at the BMW Championship. One putt. One stroke. A whole new chance at a paycheck, a trophy and a chance to join the 30 best golfers at the year's last big event.
So, is what I'm about to say true? Did the FedEx Cup, thanks to guys like Molder, a different points system and the resurgence of Steve Stricker, become interesting? Finally? I think it did.
Take Stricker for example. A 42-year-old journeyman who tears up quicker than a teen at a Zac Efron premiere, he had exactly four PGA Tour victories in his career before 2009. This season, after a birdie-birdie finish at the Deutsche Bank, Stricker has three more, and jumped ahead of Tiger Woods. Now, for the first time since Woods participated in the FedEx Cup, he is looking up, hoping to find a way to take down some old guy that hits his short irons like Iron Byron (the machine, not the player) and hardly ever misses putts he needs to make.
So what about Woods? Before Sunday, he was slumping as much as a guy with five wins can slump. He couldn't make putts. He was tossing clubs into waste areas. He was frustrated like we'd never seen him before. And then Tiger went out and shot a holy-hell-that's-low 63 that included two bogeys to vault up a leaderboard full of formidable names. The 63 matched his lowest round of the year, and made it apparent that even if it's just the FedEx Cup, Woods wants to win it ... badly.
After this week, FedEx Cup points are reset for the Tour Championship. That means that, basically, for the top guys, finishing high means you can enter the final event with more allotted points than the next guy. Unlike '07 when Tiger blew the thing open, or last year when all Vijay Singh had to do was show up and he'd get the trophy, this thing will come down to the wire.
The FedEx Cup was put together to make the end of the season interesting. Finally, after three years, it's doing just that.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fedex Cup interesting? I say take all of the cups,i.e. Presidents, Ryder, Solheim and throw them in the trash can. NOBODY CARES!!!
Dear fur-not-sher. The idea that NOBODY cares just changed, thanks to Steve Stricker. I, for one, have been pulling for him to reach his potential. Whenever he drives the ball straight, he's a marvel: from the fairway on in, he's the cleanest ball striker and the coolest competitor in the game. Newsflash: under the Fed Ex format, he's a serious contender to Tiger Woods. What made Nicklaus great was Palmer, Watson, Trevino, Player. Now let's see a real horse race: it takes time for an idea or a tournament to gain some drama and some substance. I dissed the Fed Ex as merely a money and p.r. grab. One more of those newsflashes: I'm going to be watching to see Tiger and Stricker go head to head, hopefully, and to see a Fall classic emerge from what looked like a boring idea just two years ago. Tom Watson proved there's drama in golf without Tiger. Stricker is close to doing the same. Hallelujah...
You stated it correctly, the top 125 got into the so called play-offs. Is that the right formula as that includes everyone that gets to keep their tour card for next year???? How is it that everyone gets to play? Do the Pittsburgh Pirates get in baseball play-offs just because they will have one of the 32 teams next year????? What happened to the real championship series?? You know, only the best of the best get to play, not lucky Lucy's like Stricker.
The PGA took a page from Nascar, and hey its working. Before the Chase, Nascar's champion was crowned most of the time with 5 races or more left in the season, now it normally comes down to the last race. Well guess what? Now the Fedex cup does too. Look at the top 5 going into the Tour Championship, if one of them wins the tourney they win the cup. Thats excitement. 5 people all with a shot, not to mention if they tank that leaves the door wide open for 25 other guys to take the hardware and $10 million home with them. If thats not drama in sports, I dont know what is. We could always just say I know its only spring training but the Yankees are the World Champs no matter what happens.
Hey cooker it is a playoff 125 down to 100 down to 70 down to 30 to a champion. Hmm 125 people that leaves about 6 billion on the planet not getting to play. And as for the Pirates getting to play, no cuz they suck. I bet you think the BCS always has the 2 best teams playing? Oh and how about the NCAA do you really think the best 65 teams are there? Umm no way there are definately teams in the NIT that deserve to be there.
"Furrsher"...what an idiot you are! You probably are a big soccer fan. If you don't like the sport...why don't you go to another sports topic and comment there. Your comments here are...absolutlely idiotic.