Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Golf Playoffs

My dad and I had an argument the other day about the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup and I felt like sharing it.  My pops likes the FedEx Cup because he claims it crowns an official champion of the PGA Tour for the year.  My counterpoint was - who cares?  Seriously, who the hell cares who wins this title?  No one.  The only tournaments that people care about are the four "Majors".  So, if some random guy wins the FedEx Cup, the only people that care are the winner, his family, and his caddie and that is only because the winner receives $10 million for some reason.  I'll put it this way, do you know who won the FedEx Cup last year?  I doubt it, but it was Bill Haas.  I knew that answer but that was because the guy is from my hometown and I used to play golf and basketball against him in high school.  However, I bet any casual fan can name who won The Masters or the British Open this year (it was Bubba Watson and Ernie Els), which is exactly why I deem a "winner" of the PGA Tour playoffs pointless.

There is another major reason I find these so-called playoffs stupid.  First you need to know that the Top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup Standings qualify for the last tournament of the year, The Tour Championship.  And if a golfer qualifies for The Tour Championship then it is mathematically possible for any one of them to win the FedEx Cup.  What?  That's just dumb.  I guess you could argue that if two teams make the Super Bowl, then either of those teams is eligible to win the championship and that The Tour Championship is technically the championship game of the FedEx Cup, but this is 30 golfers, not two teams.

The whole FedEx Cup setup seems convoluted and I bring up my first point again, why do we need an official winner of the PGA Tour season?  Bubba Watson won The Masters and that will be way more memorable than whoever wins the FedEx Cup/PGA Tour Championship.  I'll put it another way, who do you think was the best golfer this season?  Tiger Woods with his 3 wins, 1 runner-up, 2 third place finishes, and 9 Top 10's?  How about Rory McIlroy and his 4 wins (one of them a Major), 2 runner-ups, 1 third place finish, and 10 Top 10's?  I would go with Rory and I would crown him the "winner" of the PGA this year, but do you know who won the FedEx Cup?  Probably not, because it wasn't either of those guys, it was Brandt Snedeker.  There is no way he was the best golfer this year and that is just stupid.  Plus it is now football season, no one is watching golf anymore anyways.

"Here is last year's FedEx Cup winner....wait, nobody cares about that, so here is Natalie Gulbis instead.  Way better."

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