Tag: pga tour

FedEx Cup: Projected Standings

The FedEx Cup is the new end-of-season playoff for the PGA Tour. It is comprised of the last four events of the year and the field is reduced after the second event to 70 players and again after the third event to 30 players for the final event, the Tour Championship. Throughout the season players accumulate points, which are used to establish the rankings for the final four-event playoff series. At the start of the four-event series the points are reset, presumably so that the race is competitive. Woods, who had a large lead before the playoff events commenced, was set to 100,000 points. Second place was set to 99,000 points. A mere 1000 points separating the leaders is insignificant considering that the winning share of points for any of the play-off events is about 9000 points.

What has made the new system especially compelling and more user-friendly are the frequently updated “projected standings.” Instead of waiting until each of the individual playoff tournaments conclude to update the point standing, the online scoreboard and the TV commentators provide updates hole by hole. The projected standings change frequently, but that only lends to the excitement.

High Output for Woods

One of the most impressive statistics in golf is that Tiger Woods has led the PGA Tour World Money List seven of the last ten years by playing fewer events than the runner up in every year except 1999. In other words, he’s winning more money than any other professional golfer while playing in fewer tournaments. In some years, he’s playing in as many as nine fewer tournaments. And this year, while not yet over, Woods leads the money list having played in just fifteen tournaments and will likely finish at the top having played in 17 tournaments to the runner-ups 22 events.

As a side note, this year Woods total of 17 events will be the fewest number of tournaments he has played during a full season since joining the PGA Tour in 1996.

The point where this graph jumps above $6 Million is 1999, the year the World Golf Championship events were introduced. Big money. Greg Norman campaigned for world events similar to the WGC for years. I’m not sure it would have ever happened if Woods had not joined the tour. It’s not a coincidence that the leading money winner now earns in excess of five times what they earned ten years ago.

(Woods was the money leader in the years the points coincide.)

Here, we see that no one has won the money list by playing in fewer tournaments than Woods.

(Woods was the money leader in the years the points coincide.)

PGA Tour Pension Plan

Tiger Woods could have a pension in excess of $1 Billion waiting for him when he turns 60 if he keeps winning at his current pace. The PGA Tour pension plan is performance-based and with the recent addition of the FedEx Cup playoff and the $10 Million annuity that comes with it, the power of compound interest is on the players’ side. Especially for Woods. (Link via Kottke.org)

Question: Hoof it or Stay Home?

Is visiting a professional golf tournament worth the hassle?

Reasons to hoof it to the tournament:

  1. Tee shots – The trajectory of some of the pro’s tee shots is amazing to watch. The best place to appreciate this is from behind the tee box. You’ll be able to see the ball’s flight and curve.
  2. Eavesdropping – Overhearing the player-player and player-caddie banter offers a bit of an insight into to how fun it must be to play professional golf for a living.
  3. The Clubs – Being at the tournament is the best place to see the prototype tour only clubs up close.
  4. The Course – Seeing the undulations in the greens and the elevation changes on the entire course can lend an entirely new perspective to a golf tournament. And even if you don’t make it back the next year, you’ll have a better appreciation for the difficulty of some of the shots the pros are facing.

Reasons to be a couch potato:

  1. Better View – It’s much easier to follow the tournament when you’re at home. Being at the course can be disorienting and frustrating.
  2. The Commentary – While you may overhear the players and caddies talking if you visit the tournament, you’ll miss the cheesy comments of your favorite TV golf announcer.
  3. Seeing Good Shots – Being at a golf tournament is like reading a fraction of 72 different books in one day. You never get the beginning, middle and end. Seeing the tee shot, ball flight, and landing is unique to watching on TV.

Would you rather go to a tournament or watch from home?

Congrats, Lefty!

Phil Mickelson won the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC Boston by out-dueling Tiger Woods, Brett Wetterich, and Aaron Oberholser. The Monday finish was a unique holiday flare that highlighted the FedEx Cup, the PGA Tour’s new season ending playoff.

After two weeks, Phil Mickelson is now leading FedEx Cup points with 108,613. Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods are second and third. Next week’s BMW Championship at Cog Hill in Chicago, IL will host the top seventy players according to the FedEx Cup standings. And the week after that The Tour Championship in Atlanta, GA will produce the winner of the playoffs from a 30-man field.

The FedEx Cup is proving to be more exciting that expected. The big name players have stepped up, with the exception of Tiger Woods skipping the first event. Today’s duel between Tiger and Phil went a long way towards validating the new format – and we’re only halfway through. As golf fans become more accustomed to the FedEx Cup points system, it will gain more followers. While the Cup doesn’t have the thrill of single elimination match play, the fact that there is a $10 million annuity for the FedEx Cup points winner is bigger than any one of the $7 million purses for the individual tournaments.

The 2007 British Open

I didn’t get to see a second of coverage of this years British Open (thanks to CCTV’s unwillingness to cover something worth watching), but from what I’ve read the finish was as exhilarating and sloppy as the final round eight years ago when it was last played at Carnoustie. I remember watching Jean Van de Velde crumple on the 18th hole and the following playoff between Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie. For a high school kid obsessed with golf, this was an exciting finish and one I could empathize with. (I have both won a playoff and lost by one shot after double-bogeying the final hole. One is a good feeling, the other is what people refer to as a “learning experience.”)

I’m hoping the golf channel will rebroadcast this years Open sometime soon when I’m back in the U.S. so I can see how truly disappointed Sergio was and how elated Harrington was when he hoisted the Claret Jug after the four hole playoff.