In the end, the FedExCup rewards consistent play

ATLANTA -- It was about 15 minutes before 5 p.m. on a gorgeous day at East Lake, well past the midway point of the final round of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, and Tiger Woods was not in his customary place atop the leaderboard.

We're not talking the tournament leaderboard. But the FedExCup leaderboard.

At that point, Woods had just bogeyed the 13th hole when he overshot the green with his approach shot, landed in the intermediate rough and couldn't get up-and-down for par. Consequently, he fell behind Steve Stricker on the projected leaderboard.

Five minutes later, $10 million switched sides again. A Steve Stricker bogey and a Padraig Harrington birdie readjusted the positions on the tournament leaderboard -- and consequently, readjusted the FexExCup standings to put Woods back on top.

From that point, Woods never trailed again on his way to a second title in the three-year history of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

Sure, Woods felt a little strange celebrating a title in which he did not win the tournament. Sharing the day with tournament leader Phil Mickelson, Woods understood that the latest piece of hardware in his overflowing trophy case will be one that he appreciates more on Monday, more in the future, than on a Sunday night where he was still mulling over the missed opportunities to catch his long-time rival.

"I'm sure I would probably be more happy tomorrow than I am right now, because you're in the moment trying to win this event," said Woods, who finished solo second to Mickelson after shooting a final-round 70 to Mickelson's eye-popping 65. "... When you're in the moment out there, I'm trying to win a golf tournament, I'm trying to beat Phil, he's trying to beat me."

Mickelson, of course, eliminated most of the drama out of the tournament result itself by taking charge with four birdies on the front nine. As he moved up, 54-hole leader Kenny Perry quickly fell back with three front-nine bogeys, and no other player was able to hang with Lefty on this day.

But the FedExCup drama remained, with the situations and possibilities bubbling over at one point. Mickelson's rise seemed to enhance Woods' chances of winning the Cup, provided that Woods didn't drop too far down the leaderboard. But Sean O'Hair was still clinging to some hope, and Stricker was still to be heard. And Mickelson himself even had an outside chance had a catastrophe befallen the world's top player.

There was plenty of scoreboard watching, which was one of the goals when the FedExCup points system was revamped last November. A year ago, Vijay Singh only had to stand upright at East Lake to collect the big prize. There was no such luxury on this day.

"There was a lot of good atmosphere," Stricker said. "It was fun. A lot of people around, and I heard some big cheers from behind. It was pretty cool."

In the end, though, for all of the changes that produced all that fun Sunday, the FedExCup was awarded to the player who showed the most consistency -- consistency in the regular season and consistency in the Playoffs.

With five wins in the regular season, Woods was rewarded with the top seed entering the Playoffs. By tying for second at The Barclays, finishing in a tie for 11th at the Deutsche Bank Championship, then winning the BMW Championship, he was rewarded with the top seed entering this week's finale.

Many other players had realistic scenarios to win the FedExCup, but, as usual, Woods took care of business by doing the things necessary for winning. Mickelson, meanwhile, took care of business this week, but he failed to do so in the three previous Playoffs events, finishing no higher than a tie for 27th (at TPC Boston).

And that's why the $10 million bonus is going into Woods' bank account and not Mickelson's. Phil was blaming no one but himself.

"I didn't play well the first three FedExCup events. I don't deserve to win the entire FedExCup just based on one tournament win," Mickelson said. "It's got to be based on all four.

"So the way it worked out so far this year, it seems like it's just. The best player won, the guy who played the best in all four events won, and I liked the fact that I was able to make up extra ground here in the final event."

Woods said his FedExCup win is much like winning the Player of the Year, a reward for being the best during an extended length of time. Except that this body of work is chopped up into three stages -- regular season, first three Playoffs event, then the finale. You have to bring it ... then bring it again ... then bring it one last time.

"We had a lot of unknowns going into the Playoffs this year, how it was going to turn out because of the resetting," Woods said. "Guys could have gone the entire year without winning an event and still won the FedExCup.

"But ... the whole idea is to play well at the end, and that's kind of how it's structured."

No matter what kind of structure it is, no matter what the possibilities are or what kind of surprises may develop, Woods finds a way. That's why he's the FedExCup champion. That's why the sting of not winning the tournament will soon be replaced with the joy of accomplishment for managing his successes just like he manages the golf course.

Soon after his own bid for the FedExCup fell short, someone asked O'Hair whether he thought Woods or Mickelson won.

"I think Tiger wins today," he replied.

Why? O'Hair mentioned 10 million reasons.

Either way, both Woods and Mickelson seemed fairly happy when they lifted their respective trophies to the huge crowd surrounding the 18th green. On this day, there was room for two winners.

And both were deserving.