Golf - Tiger too tired for BMW champs

Cafe Society
21

I don’t read that as a “mental thing”, but rather a “physical (and possibly also a mental) thing”. But I don’t really think it’s all that big a deal. This FedEx thing seems more like a gimmick to me, anyway. A very expensive gimmick, mind you, but I don’t see why Tiger has to support it by playing all 4 events just because the PGA officials decided they wanted to try and lure golfers into the late season games. Especially since there’s a good chance he can win it by playing only 3 events. If he does, that’ll make this whole thing a bigger joke than it already is-- at least as long as Tiger is around.

I guess tennis is like golf with such a long season, but most sports have a much shorter season of 4-6 months, not 10 months long.

22

[QUOTE=Dinsdale]
Of course, he’s been at this for a while and could have been expected to anticipate the effort involved when he said he’d try to play all 4 FedEx tourneys.
[/QUOTE]
I think what he said was that he “intended” to play them all.

23

Tiger might regret his decision.

Choi, Stricker Sabatini, Garcia, Mickleson, Els, Furyk all can pass Tiger with a win, and they’re all in it. It might just make Tiger win at least one of the final three tournaments to win the whole thing.

24

OK. We’re halfway through it and I have to say that I don’t care a bit. Despite all the reinforcement from the broadcasters, all I cared about yesterday was if Mickleson would choke away another win.

It seems much more likely that this playoff format will be a big dud. It could end up with Tiger shooting 57 on the last day of the last tournament and winning by 23 shots on Mickleson, but finishing second in the “playoff” because Phil comes in second instead of third when KJ Choi triple bogeys the last hole.

There is no drama associated with the “cut”. Boring.

And now I see that Mickleson has withdrawn from next week’s event. Dud.

25

Did Mick withdraw? Yesterday he said he might, but wasn’t definite.

I’m still not thrilled with the whole playoff except for one thing - it seems to be encouraging (most of) the top players to compete in what are usually the dog days of golf watching on TV. I mean, Tiger and Mick played together the 1st 2 rounds this week because of their standings, and the 4th round because of their tourney play. With them narrowing the field, you are really getting closer and closer to a cream-of-the-crop field for the next 2 weeks. This week will be 70 players, next week 30. Both are no-cut tourneys.

So you pretty much have the guys who had the best seasons, tweaked by the guys who are really hot now. Should make for a couple of fun tourneys.

And I was glad to see Mick win again, especially in the same pairing as Tiger. What was he THINKING with that shot to the green leading to double?! :eek:

But no, I couldn’t care less about who wins that godawful trophy.

26

Oh yeah - I thought the TV guys should cool it with the constant color-coded projections. Especially way early in the round/tourney.

And I have yet to hear anyone in this area refer to the upcoming tourney as anything other than the Western.

27

I’m kinda “meh” about it.

His claim for recovery might be a silly headgame. If it is, whee. If it isn’t, whee.

He still puts on a hell of a show in the majors.

28

In most sports, it’s still possible to get snooty and say “So-and-So has to understand, he is NOT bigger than the game.”

Problem is, that’s not true in golf any more. Tiger Woods IS bigger than the PGA. He knows it, his fellow golfers know it, and Tim Finchem knows it. Any tournament in which Tiger doesn’t participate becomes, de facto, a non-event. Any tournament in which he plays but isn’t a top contender will have zero viewers on Sunday.
Hence, he can play or not play whenever he feels like it, knowing that the PGA needs him a lot more than he needs their lesser tournaments.

Like it or not, Tiger only cares about the majors and a handful of other tournaments. The FedEx “classic” means even less to him than the Ryder Cup (and we’ve seen how little THAT means to him).

He has more money than he’ll ever be able to spend, and he’s already firmly established as the best (or, at worst, second best) golfer of all time. What else does he have to prove to anyone?

Maybe he’s truly tired. More likely, he just doesn’t give a rat’s behind but doesn’t feel like saying so on the record.

29

[QUOTE=astorian]
Like it or not, Tiger only cares about the majors and a handful of other tournaments. The FedEx “classic” means even less to him than the Ryder Cup (and we’ve seen how little THAT means to him).

He has more money than he’ll ever be able to spend, and he’s already firmly established as the best (or, at worst, second best) golfer of all time. What else does he have to prove to anyone?

Maybe he’s truly tired. More likely, he just doesn’t give a rat’s behind but doesn’t feel like saying so on the record.
[/QUOTE]
They just don’t care about the money. As you say, they have enough for several lifetimes. See here for just how lucrative winning then Fedex Cup can be.

30

I read it as mental/emotional exhaustion. He just had a baby and grueling end to the season. He needs some mental health time. Big deal. I don’t think “exhaustion” is necessarily an inaccurate characterization of how he feels. All that travel time alone has to become wearing after awhile.

I also agree that this is just not a significant event for him. He doesn’t need the money or the points or the cred. He can do whatever he wants.

31

Just wanted to point out that at this point this thread could veer away from Tiger himself, towards discussion of the FedEx Cup “playoffs.” Would a new thread or a changed title be appropriate?

Tiger took the first week off. Last week Choi and Ells took off. This week Michelson and Harrington are taking off.

Also, I wonder how realistic it is for the tour to get buy-in from the top players to play 4 weeks in a row, when this is followed immediately by the President’s/Ryder Cup. So that effectively makes it 5 weeks in a row, at a time when the top guys are generally taking it pretty easy.

In the paper today, they said given the points at stake there is a very small number of folks who could pass the idle Mick for the lead if they won or finished near the top this week - maybe 8-10. And, tho I haven’t crunched the numbers, when it gets down to the final week I bet there will be a limited number of golfers who have a chance of winning the whole thing. Certainly not all 30 who will be competing.

Given the way it is set up, I really don’t have an issue with a player taking a week off. They are all sole contractors, so they can make their decisions as to what is in their personal best interest. And if one of the top guns can win it all despite taking a week off, more power to him.

32

It just seems to me that this scoring system (Fed-Ex) doesn’t fit the game of golf at all. It isn’t golf when a player (could be Mickleson, or Tiger, or Stricker, etc.) can go into the final event knowing that as long as they finish fourth, they will win the playoff. What the hell kind of a playoff is that?

If they wanted it to be a real playoff, they could have kept the scoring system as is for the first three events, then had the final 32 play match play to the end. The way it is now, the 30th ranked guy could win the final tournament but not sniff the top 5 in the “playoff”. Now it could be “Phil wins if he wins, or if he finishes second and Tiger doesn’t win, or if he finishes third - sixth provided KJ Choi doesn’t win, Stricker doesn’t come in first-third, and Tiger misses the cut.”

Yes, I know that there isn’t a cut in the final event.

33

[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane]
It just seems to me that this scoring system (Fed-Ex) doesn’t fit the game of golf at all. It isn’t golf when a player (could be Mickleson, or Tiger, or Stricker, etc.) can go into the final event knowing that as long as they finish fourth, they will win the playoff. What the hell kind of a playoff is that?

If they wanted it to be a real playoff, they could have kept the scoring system as is for the first three events, then had the final 32 play match play to the end. The way it is now, the 30th ranked guy could win the final tournament but not sniff the top 5 in the “playoff”. Now it could be “Phil wins if he wins, or if he finishes second and Tiger doesn’t win, or if he finishes third - sixth provided KJ Choi doesn’t win, Stricker doesn’t come in first-third, and Tiger misses the cut.”

Yes, I know that there isn’t a cut in the final event.
[/QUOTE]

I tend to agree. If I was setting it up, I’d seed the matches, and give byes to the top 4 or 8 in the standings. So you could have, say, 6 rounds, with the top 40 players seeded, giving the top 8 byes into the third round. Other combinations are available. Or if you want to make it a stroke play event, have there be five rounds, and make each day an elimination event, with byes for the top players past the first round or two.

As it stands, there will be very few of the top 30 the last week who actually can win the Cup.

34

[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane]
It just seems to me that this scoring system (Fed-Ex) doesn’t fit the game of golf at all. It isn’t golf when a player (could be Mickleson, or Tiger, or Stricker, etc.) can go into the final event knowing that as long as they finish fourth, they will win the playoff. What the hell kind of a playoff is that?

[/QUOTE]

Well, as it is, the top player is generally considered to be the player who whins the most money in a year. So a guy could go on a tear in California and the desert, pile up a bunch of winnings, not play after the Masters and still be the leading money winner.

Another rating is the voting for the player of the year. Which is generally won by the guy who has the highest winnings - especially if he won at least 1 major. If the top money winner did nothing in the bigger tourneys, tho, it is possible that a lower money winner will be voted PotY.

The Vardon Trophy goes to the player with the lowest scoring average. Generally that player will have won a bunch of $ and a tourney or 2, but that is not guaranteed. A guy could finish in the top 2 thru 5 in every tourney he enters, and have the lowest scoring average despite never winning.

What I’m saying is that under all of the traditional methods of identifying the best golfer of the year, players have considerable leeway in determining what tourneys they do or don’t play. So in that respect, this playoff system strikes me as very much in the traditional spirit of golf.

Face it, if Tiger finishes 2d in this FedEx Cup, is there anyone on earth who will think he did not have the best year of any pro golfer?

If Steve Stricker wins this playoff, will that mean he is better than Tiger or Phil? Of course not. But it can still make this end-of-season exercise enjoyable. Maybe a step above football’s ProBowl.

It is fun to see how the players conduct themselves in different situations. That is one reason I enjoyed the occasional Stableford or match play tourneys, or the bestball/alternate shot matches in the Ryder/President’s Cups. To me, this end of the season spectacle is just another wrinkle that I can derive enjoyment from watching. I’m surprising myself in finding that I am more interested in the tourneys as time goes on.

35

Well, if yesterday is any indication, Chicago fans are expressing their lack of support for the change of the July 4 Western to the every-other-post Labor Day BMW. Trib said opening day crowds were 20K, compared to usual 35K. True, a risk of bad weather (which never materialized) caused them to move teetimes earlier.

Right now the PGA Tour site says play has been suspended due to weather - but I have been unable to find when play was suspended, how bad the weather was, when it is expected to resume, etc. Seems like relevant info they should have and should think to make available.

Relevant to me, cause I’ve got a 12:30 tee time url=http://www.mistwoodgolf.net/]here, just west of Cog, with a couple of guys who were planning on attending the tourney this a.m. If you hear about an idiot golfer who got hit by lightning this aft, and I stop posting, there might be a connex! Hell, what am I talking about? i think it is letting up! The heavy stuff isn’t going to come down for some time… :stuck_out_tongue:

36

All right, finally found among the video that play was suspended at 9:11. Funny, I’m less than 20 miles pretty much straight N of there, and tho it is overcast there is no sign of rain. Some showers came through here around 6 a.m. or so. Radar map looks pretty clear.

I’d better bring my sunsceen! :cool:

37

If Tiger wins this one outright, I think he can’t be worst than second, maybe third, even if he skips next week. What kind of playoff can you do that when you miss half the tournaments? (not that Tiger will skip it, just in theory)

But yes, I’ll watch Tiger. I’m one of those kind of fans. Villegas is also of interest.

I can really do without the projected standings every five minutes, especially with the crazy scoring. Is a 300 point difference a lot or a little? no idea.

I hope they rethink this, but I am enjoying the field.

38

This thing seems to be cursed. The PGA posted notes on everyone’s lockers this morning saying that players will not be allowed to set foot on the greens at Eastlake until the tournament starts on Thursday.

*“But the overall conditions of all the greens will not come close to normal expectations,” the tour notice said. *

Some players have never played the course before.

Haven’t they heard of sprinklers in Georgia?

39

[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane]
Haven’t they heard of sprinklers in Georgia?
[/QUOTE]
Bent grass won’t grow in the kind of heat that Atlanta has been getting.

40

Got no idea about the growing requirements of bentgrass, but you’d think this is the kinda thing the Tour might have anticipated, given all the bucks they are throwing at this thing.
Heck, up here in Chicago a green or 2 have been known to get burnt out in the fall.

So what is the story? Only 5 players have any chance at all of winning the playoff, and of those 5, only Woods, Stricker, and Mick are realistically in it?

Anyone know the permutations - how high do Stricker or Mick have to place to win it all, combined with how bad of a showing by Tiger? If someone other than one of those 3 win it, then is it Tiger’s?