- FedExCup Points: 50,000
- Purse: $7.0 million
- Winning Share: $1,260,000
- Yards: 6,839
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
HARRISON, N.Y. -- The question certainly was understandable, given the tradition of the game.
Just where did PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem see the FedExCup fitting into golf's pecking order? After all, the game already has the four majors, THE PLAYERS Championship, the World Golf Championships events, Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.
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The season-long competition that culminates with the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and offers a $10 million bonus to the winner was never designed to be an either-or proposition, though. It wasn't created to compete with or overshadow any single event.
The FedExCup is simply an effort to tie the entire season together in a more impactful way. And when the Playoffs, which begin Thursday at The Barclays, are over, the very first season-long champion will be crowned.
"I've seen this question asked of players during the course of the year: 'Do you think it's a good thing or a bad thing for a 10-year-old to think as much about the FedExCup as he does about winning the Masters?'" Finchem said. "I don't quite understand that line of thinking.
"It is in essence taking sort of what the Player of the Year Award has been, and adding to that the notion of somebody competing for a different set of things over the course of the season, and then having to perform in Playoff events.
"We have absolutely no interest, and it would be folly for us to suggest that we should create something to take away from the major championships, THE PLAYERS Championship, or any of our tournaments."
Finchem is ready to get the inaugural Playoffs under way. The FedExCup may have taken center stage this season, but it has been waiting in the wings, under development, for several more years.
"So we're excited about being at that point where we can now see it come to the conclusion the first year," Finchem said. "We are very excited about that. We're delighted and thankful to the players for coming this week and being here.
"We think it's shaping up quite well. Everything we see from a fan standpoint is very positive, and that's where we're most focused on and we think the players are really geared up. So, we're excited."
That being said, Finchem understands that fans of the game -- himself included -- are disappointed that top-seeded Tiger Woods decided not to play at Westchester Country Club this week. At the same time, though, his absence might not be as much of a negative for the overall FedExCup competition as some thought.
"Clearly we've been carefully watching the emails and blogs come through over the last better part of a week now, and the fans seem to have a different view," Finchem said. "They seem to think that Tiger was going to win this thing, and now it's not so sure that he's going to win it, so it creates more excitement and more enthusiasm.
"I noticed one blog the other day on ESPN, a couple of them accused me of going to Tiger and asking him not to play for that purpose, which I thought was a little amusing.
"But there seems to be this feeling, and some of the players have echoed it this week; that there's a chance that the lead that he's been given, that given his seeding could be eliminated this week. Certainly there's a reasonable chance that that would happen, and then he's playing from a different position for the rest of the Playoffs. So how that plays out, who is to know? We have looked at so many permutations on this thing, it's hard to say."
Finchem said the Playoffs will be carefully evaluated at the end of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, and changes, if necessary, can be made at that time. For now, though, he wants fans focused on the next four weeks.
"We feel that it's a process, just like the Presidents Cup was a process from the time that we announced the Presidents Cup when it was a stepchild to the Ryder Cup and why are we doing it to today," he said. "It's a very compelling asset to the TOUR and to the players, and we believe very strongly that that is the case with the Cup.
"I've said all year, I'll say it again, that if the Playoffs are not particularly compelling, if somebody runs away with it, Brandt Snedeker wins five in a row and after Chicago he's got such a big lead; if it's not particularly compelling through Atlanta, it still will have been a very positive beginning to the process of building the Cup.
"If the Playoffs, on the other hand, are compelling, and you've got, you know, a bunch of guys going into Atlanta, they get to Sunday, there's still a bunch of guys in it, it heats up; then I think it's just gotten to the platform we'd like to see faster.
"So, it's all a process, and right now we're very comfortable with our progress regardless of which way it goes."
