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Phil Mickelson has pulled out of this week's FedEx BMW Championship golf tournament, predominantly for family reasons - he wants to be with his kids as they start school, and also to rest.
http://sports.iwon.com/news/09042007/v6987.html
Seems like only the top players get this privilege, as Tiger skipped week one and Ernie Els skipped week two. Those fighting for their livelyhood and actually need the money, the "grinders", don't skip a week just because they are tired.
Didn't check the link you included but other sites have indicated more of protest about certain things rather than just family time...
Phil made a comment on NBC after winning the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday that he was thinking about not playing the next tournament becasue he felt the PGA had renegged on some promises while he had come through for the PGA with what he promised. He didn't give any details, but acted like he was PO'd.
For a chance at 10 million, I think I'd forgive and forget. But I can't figure out the fed ex cup points thing; it may not hurt him?
The FedEx Cup schedule is foolish. The PGA should have put a break in it and should have started it after a break from the PGA Championship. Think about other sports where there are more breaks than normal in the post-season and the best teams get a game/week off for extra preparation. Compare that to the PGA which puts its playoffs in between the 4th Major and the President's Cup (or Ryder Cup next year). During the regular PGA Tour, Tiger and Phil and the other top players only rarely play more than maybe 3 weeks in a row and now the PGA Tour expects them to play 6 weeks in a row?!?!? Heck, it is even more than that if the players want to play the week before the PGA to make sure they are on top of their game for the 4th Major. It is just stupid and that is why many of the top players are skipping one round of the playoffs.
The PGA suffers from some idiotic belief that putting a ton of money into the playoffs would entice Phil, Tiger, Ernie, and the such into playing in all the events. First of all, the top players make so much moeny that a few extra million is just not going to matter to them. Tiger and Phil are both worth something hundreds of millions of dollars-- and they are in their earning prime. According to Golf Digest, Phil will make about $50 million THIS YEAR. Tiger will earn more than $100 THIS YEAR. Vijay and Earnie both will make well over $20 million. Plus, skipping one event hardly means you forfeit the entire $10 million prize for winning the playoffs. There is a tidy sum for 2nd, 3rd, and the such.
And it occurs to me that Phil and Tiger may realize that their chance of winning the FedEx Cup may be enhansed by skipping a week of the playoffs and therefore being fresher the following weeks-- lose one so you can have a shot at winning the next two.
Lastly, if Phil wants a break to spend some time with his family, more power to him! Professional golfers are on the road as much as any professional athlete. Unlike players in team sports, there are no extended homestands to hang with the family. If you are playing, you are on the road for 5 days (at least) of the week. I know they make a ton of money and no one forced them to pick this life, but I don't think any of us should complain if some of them want to spend a little time with their families.
--Jason "I thik the way the FedEx points are set up, for the top players all that matters is winning the Tour Championship next weekend... win that and you win the playoffs" Evans
I was trying to find out how many points each place in the various tournaments are worth but I had no luck. I know that Phil has about a 4000 pt lead (5k over Tiger) and that Tiger needs second solo to take over first this weekend, but that's about all. Does anyone know where you can find the breakout of points by Fedex tournament?
I also agree that it is stupid to put all these tournaments back-to-back like they have, hopefully they'll figure out a better way to handle it next year. I think that it will be tough because there just isn't enough time, and as Jason said the top players don't need the prize for winning.
On that note, I'm rooting for Stricker, he doesn't make the vast sums that the others do but has come on nicely here at the end of the season. He does make a lot, but $10MM means a ton to him.
How devastating would it be to the PGA if Stricker and NOT a top tier golfer won the first Fed ex cup. Not that I have anything against Stricker - he seems like a great person and I was glad he won a couple of weeks ago, but even he said he was beginning to think he'd never win again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clipsfan
I know that the PGA is hoping that the Tour Championship ends up with Tiger vs. Phil in the final group with Ernie making a strong run etc, but I find it fun to root for the other guys who seem like good people and play well. Even so, it's hard not to get on the Tiger bandwagon at times. I just think that a guy like Stricker can use the money more than Tiger.Quote:
Originally Posted by rthomas
One thing I read is that the bonus money isn't a cash payout, but rather is put into a retirement account. They won't see it for a while.
Tiger or Phil must win for this thing to have a real "playoff" feeling. If someone really off the radar takes it then it is going to make the Cup appear to be meaningless. I could see maybe someone like Vijay, Furyk or Geoff Ogilvy winning and it being ok because they have all won a LOT on Tour lately and have Majors to their name. But I think Zach Johnson (despite his Masters win), Rory Sabattini, Steve Stricker, or KJ Choi would be bad, even though each of them has had very big years.Quote:
Originally Posted by rthomas
-Jason "plus, if Tiger or Phil win, it will add a whole- can he repeat?- thing next year" Evans
In addition, the $10 million is paid as annuity over some number of years. So, it's impact on present earnings is even less.Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonEvans
I also agree that there should be at least a one week break between successive rounds of the FedEx. I suspect that this is what Phil is upset about, though I have no real inside track on that.
The thing that really bothers me about the entire FedEx, though, is the scoring system. Any system that begins at year end and has a separation of only 1,000 points between each of the (at least) top 10 players seems pretty weak to me. At the very least the scoring does not seem to have reflected the players' performances throughout the season, which would have resulted in a much different differential.
While I wouldn't mind seeing just about anyone win, I think the FedEx results are pretty laughable given the performances of Tiger, Phil, Stricker, over the course of the season. Realistically, Tiger shouldn't even have to show up to any of the seasonenders to clinch the FedEx.
One other problem in this NASCAR-off is that the scoring system could begin to resemble the tennis scoring system that rewards players for playing more matches, which, due to the lack of head to heads in golf, would unfairly reward players who hovered around the cut line week after week if the system isn't balanced and weighted.
But right now, all of this is moot, since the scoring system is essentially as decipherable as the QB rating or the BCS.
If anyone cares, Wikipedia turns out to have a lot of info on the point system for the Fedex Cup. Here's the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...t_distribution