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By John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor

We have always known that there would be some tweaking to the points system that drove the race for the FedExCup. The constant refrain we have heard from the players is that they want to see more movement during the four events that make up the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

What they would like to see are players who were well back in the points still be able to make a run deep into the Playoffs with good play.

Rich Beem's exemption for winning the 2002 PGA Championship runs out this year. Beem is precariously close to the magic No. 125 mark on the money list. (WireImage)

To a limited extent, that happened. Rich Beem tied for seventh at The Barclays to earn a spot in the Deutsche Bank Championship the following week. With the elimination of 50 players in Boston, Rich would have had to finish second to earn a spot the next week at the BMW Championship.

In case you forgot, the Deutsche Bank Championship was the tournament where Phil Mickelson outdueled Tiger Woods for the title. Rich made a nice run early in the week but faltered over the weekend.

The good news for Beemer is that he made enough money those two weeks to secure his exemption for 2008 -- or, so it seemed at the time. As we have noted here before, the number, or dollar figure, required to finish in the top 125 has gone up so dramatically that it is now mathematically possible for Rich to get bumped.

Of course, it seems unlikely considering that his earnings are over $115,000 more than Darren Clarke made a year ago when he finished 125th. The fact is, though, Beemer enters the final event of the season ranked No. 121.

That is the way that these PGA TOUR Fall Finish tournaments have gone. Veterans who struggled all year have stepped up to the plate and gotten it done over these last two months of the season. Shigeki Maruyama was the latest to secure his spot. Entering the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro, the Japanese all-star was 137th on the money list.

Perhaps more importantly he was over $150,000 behind Kevin Stadler, who held down the 125 spot, entering the week.

Shigeki holed it from the bunker on the 16th hole for eagle as play ended on Sunday. That eagle moved him to 18-under par and into a tie for the lead with Fredrik Jacobson and Daniel Chopra. Immediately following that eagle, the players were brought in off the course due to darkness.

Shigeki Maruyama missed a birdie putt on the 72nd hole in the Ginn sur Mer Classic that would have forced a playoff. (WireImage)

I don't know if Shigeki himself figured out what a second- or third-place finish would do for his position on the money list. After all, he spent his first six years on the PGA TOUR comfortably inside the top 40. The 38-year-old, who is a three-time winner on TOUR, has never had to worry about being exempt until the last few months.

After his tie for second on Monday, though, Shigeki jumped to 103rd and joined Michael Allen, Jesper Parnevik and Mark Hensby as veterans who started the Fall Series well outside the top 125 and battled their way back to exempt status.

Most years, the season finishes more subtly with moves like the one that Cameron Beckman made on Sunday. Cameron finished tied for fifth and moved from No. 128 to 118th on the money list. That is what we expect.

There was no way to predict that we would see this many players make such prolific moves on this closing stretch. Coupled with major champions like Justin Leonard and Mike Weir finding their way back into the winners circle, the Fall Finish has been spectacular.

Officials at the PGA TOUR have shown great flexibility when discussing the direction that the Playoffs would take going forward. They knew that the Playoffs would not be perfect the first time around -- although, when the No. 1 player in the world wins two of the four events and captures the inaugural FedExCup you can't ask for much more at the top.

Playoffs, though, are as much about the underdog as they are about the eventual champion. Every sport has Cinderella stories that run deep in the Playoffs. If there was one thing missing from this year it was not having that gritty underdog come out of nowhere to wow us.

We got plenty of that kind of drama in the Fall Series, though, and we still have one more week. Maybe next year we will get a few underdogs in September, as well.