ATLANTA -- As you might expect, there is no consensus on exactly where this week's Tour Championship fits into golf's tournament landscape.It is big, but not major. With a $1.35 million winner's check and $10 million FedEx Cup playoff bonus in play, the Tour Championship demands attention, but prize money will never buy the sophistication of a green jacket. And while it would be nice to raise the FedEx Cup, a drink from the Claret Jug will always be sweeter.
"You try and have this season-ending championship be our big event, but there's four other ones that are pretty big, too," Tiger Woods pointed out.
That's not to diminish what is at stake when play begins Thursday at East Lake Golf Club. The monetary windfall aside, winning the Tour Championship is career altering.
Just making the 30-player field earns automatic invites to next year's Masters, U.S. Open and British. The winner rakes in even more perks, including berths into all of next season's invitational and World Golf Championship events.
"Since developing the FedEx, I think this tournament has taken on a bigger importance,'' Steve Stricker said. "There's a lot more at stake here. I mean, first of all, the money, the prestige and winning the FedEx Cup. It has taken on much bigger importance.''
All the same, we offer this quick quiz to gauge lasting impact: Who won last year's Tour Championship?
That would be not-so-legendary Camilo Villegas, who, incidentally, did not qualify for this year's field.
Nevertheless, unfazed by anyone who might remain unimpressed by the tournament's profile, PGA Tour-produced television promos suggest the event is nothing short of epic. With tightly edited messages from a long list of players, including Woods, the commercial manages to make a case for the FedEx Cup being an accomplishment beyond majors.
The merits of subliminal advertising aside, the tournament is undeniably progressing toward big-event legitimacy -- maybe just not as fast as desired, considering the sponsorship dollars being spent.East Lake GC does its part to make the event big time, a storied Donald Ross design where Bobby Jones learned to play golf as a kid. The money at stake is mind bending. The prestige, while maybe somewhat contrived, is rich.
"It's all that stuff put together," Stricker said. "It's a great championship golf course. And then, you put together all the accolades that go along with playing here. Winning the tournament and possibly winning the FedEx Cup, put all that together and it makes the event pretty important."
Even Woods, with good reason to question the format, is providing full support. Although he has six wins this year and leads the FedEx standings, a pre-tournament reset of the points means any of Woods' four closest challengers can steal the title by winning the tournament.
"You know, if you look at years past before we had this format, it was basically the hottest players for the year," Woods said. "This is a little bit different because you actually get some of the hotter players that have played later in the year. It adds for a little bit more excitement.''
Ultimately the level of excitement a tournament produces year-in and year-out is going to determine its place on interest-level pecking orders.
With that said, the possibility of a golfer on Sunday standing over a potentially winning putt worth $11.35 million -- the $1.35 winner's check and the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus -- suggests no shortage of intrigue. Another possible attention-getter is Jim Furyk. As a result of the new points system, Furyk, although winless this year, is No. 3 on the point list and theoretically could win the Fed Ex Cup by finishing second should Woods struggle.
"Well, I'd be like Sylvester, I just swallowed a Tweety bird and that would put a big smile on my face,'' Furyk said. "But obviously that probably wouldn't be good for the system.''
Maybe not, but if the idea is so bothersome it makes you want to scream, that sounds great to PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.
"The guy who wins this week will perform the best when he has to perform in the FedEx Cup in '09," Finchem said. "That's what we find exciting about the system. We want fans talking about the system. We want fans talking about the competition, and we want them watching it on television.
"We're not after a system that answers all these kind of questions. You could argue until the cows come home, and I think that's great. I think the BCS is blessed to have the kind of controversy they have. Everybody talks about it. I hope we get talked about as much and people are strong-willed on both sides and very vocal about it and write blogs about it, talk about it, go on TV shows, and argue about it. It's great. That's what we want."
