Finchem Must Fix Fed Ex Cup

Phil Mickelson’s decision not to play in this weeks PGA Tour event in Chicago underscores the problem of the much hyped Fed Ex Cup playoffs. How can tour commissioner Tim Finchem expect fans to get excited about the playoffs when the tour’s best players – Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els -- don’t think twice about sitting out an event? Finchem is living in a fantasy world if he thinks golf fans really care whether or not John Mallinger, Steve Flesch, Bo Van Pelt or Will Mackenzie advance to the next round. Woods was “too tired” to play The Barclays and Els wanted to see his kids off to school in London. Mickelson also complained about the schedule and said he wanted to spend time with his family. He also took a shot at Finchem saying he had made some recommendations, presumably on the schedule, that were ignored. Finchem has some work to do next season if he wants the Fed Ex Cup to be taken seriously. The tour likes to draw comparisons, phony as they are, to NASCAR’s season ending championship. But I don’t see top NASCAR drivers sitting home for a week. If the Fed Ex Cup is going to succeed, Finchem must find a way to tweak the schedule. Why not start the playoffs earlier and put a one week break in the schedule after the first two events? Also, there must be a points penalty for not playing. It’s ludicrous that Mickelson can skip the BMW in Chicago and still go into the Tour Championship as the overall points leader. Finally, the attitude of the top players underscores the fact that they really don’t care about the $10 million annuity for winning the Fed Ex Cup and they really don’t care about the money from each of the events. Face it, they don’t need the money. Viewers this weekend can expect to hear a lot of breathless speculation about whether or not Tim Clark or Arron Oberhosler will make the top 30 and qualify for the final event.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Bob Gilder.