Cup needs some minor tweaks

ATLANTA – The $10 million had not been deposited into Tiger Woods’ retirement account when PGA Tour officials huddled at headquarters to begin an exhaustive review of the inaugural FedEx Cup.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for changes.

The big announcement coming out of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., later this week is a drug policy that will begin in 2008.

There was always room for error with the FedEx Cup.

Even before K.J. Choi struck the first tee shot of the season at Kapalua, tour officials conceded they probably would have to make a few changes that wouldn’t be obvious until the FedEx Cup ran its course.

For the most part, they got it right.

They wanted the first eight months of the season to be significant, and one only has to look at Rich Beem for the answer. He played some of his best golf when the PGA Tour Playoffs began, but because he virtually went AWOL from January to the middle of August, he started too far down in the standings to last more than two weeks.

They wanted to define a season champion, and Woods won by a mile. Any questions?

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was over the top when he first described the final four events of the FedEx Cup as “the most impactful series of events in the history of the sport.”

But it showed there was room for compelling golf after the majors, and it was some of the most entertaining golf of the year.

Steve Stricker winning at The Barclays might have been the most sentimental victory this year. Boston brought together Woods and Phil Mickelson for three of four rounds, including the final round on Labor Day, with Lefty scoring a rare victory that he considered the most significant this side of a green jacket or Wanamaker Trophy.

Woods owned the last two events, shattering scoring records at Cog Hill and East Lake. He played them in a combined 45 under par.

Best of all, the meaningful part of the season ended four days before autumn. That’s one promise the FedEx Cup delivered.

But that doesn’t mean it was perfect.

Rory Sabbatini and Mark Calcavecchia were among those who thought everyone should compete in all four playoff events. A top-ranked player skipped each playoff event until the Tour Championship, when all 30 made their tee times.

But Woods and Jim Furyk lobbied for starting the playoffs with fewer players.

And there was a universal cry for more volatility in the standings each week. Only three players had a realistic chance of winning the FedEx Cup.

If those are the flaws, they seem easy enough to fix.

1. Make everyone play all four events.

Don’t get hung up on who’s not there. Woods, Mickelson, Choi, Padraig Harrington, Scott Verplank and Ernie Els played three of four. Everyone else played all four.

To mandate that everyone should be at all four events is to guarantee Woods goes on a really long vacation.

2. Start with fewer players.

The biggest problem with this solution is short fields make for dull tournaments and a lousy fan experience.

3. More volatility in the standings.

Expect this area to be tweaked, mainly by how points are distributed.

Some thought anyone who finishes in the top 10, no matter where they are ranked, should advance. Just about everyone cited Beem, who tied for seventh at Westchester and had to finish no worse than second at Boston to keep going. Was that asking too much? No, because Beem had more than seven months to earn a higher seeding.

Even so, the lack of movement took away some of the drama.

In other words, the best players in golf played some of their best golf in the playoffs.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.