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by Jeff Skinner
So we are talking playoffs today and not the NFL playoffs, the PGA Tour Playoffs and the Tour Championship. The Tour finishes up its regular season this week when the 30 top point earners tee it up at Bobby Jones’ childhood home, East Lake Country Club.
The playoff formula was reworked this season to give more players a chance to win The FedEx Cup and provide more volatility throughout the playoffs. If any of the top five win the Tour Championship they will automatically win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million that goes with it. Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Charley Hoffman, Steve Stricker and Paul Casey all have their destiny in their hands: win it and you are the Fedex Cup Champion.
It seems a little odd that Hoffman could be in that category but the new points system has made any victory in the playoffs five times more valuable than a regular tour victory. A regular tour win is worth 500 Cup points. A major win is worth 600 points and a Playoff win jumps to 2500 points. Is a Playoff win more important than a major victory? Ask any touring pro on any tour, heck; ask any golf fan for that matter and the answer is a resounding no. A FedEx Cup Playoff win is important. It gets you a million bucks and all the exemptions that goes along with it but is it really worth more than a major? Only in the world of the PGA Tour Playoffs.
Each year the tour has tweaked the points system and this year they wanted volatility and they got it. Ernie Els had the lead in the points race from week 12 to week 33 with his two wins and steady play all season. When Matt Kuchar carded his first win of the season in the first playoff event, The Barclays, he vaulted to first place in the FedEx Cup points. Charley Hoffman was in 77th place at the start of the Deutsche Bank Championship. His win moved him to second place and he now sits in third place. It’s crazy but a guy could win three majors and be trumped by a guy with a hot putter at the Barclays because “Playoff Points” are worth so much more. It doesn’t seem right.
I understand that The Tour wants a more exciting month of play to try and steal some more viewers away from the NFL but this work in progress called “The Playoffs” is just that, a work in progress. Steve Stricker and other players have voiced concern over the points system and that there should be more emphasis placed on a player’s performance throughout the season. The Tour hasn’t got it right yet but at least they are willing to change the system. Maybe next year a major win will mean as much as a playoff win and the tour will find a way to reward consistent play by the players.
To put it simply: Arnold Palmer is the man. He’s a legend and the most loved golfer ever and he is still a money making machine. Palmer still earns a ton of cash endorsing products. Let’s see how Tiger and Phil are doing when they are 80 years old. I don’t think they’ll come close to Arnie.
One of Palmer’s latest deals is his arrangement with The AriZona Beverage Company selling his own invention of an iced tea and lemonade mix. Palmer started drinking it years ago, its popularity grew and it has been called the “Arnold Palmer” since then. They are selling $50 million of it annually now. That’s not a bad deal for anybody.
The Arnold Palmer is a versatile concoction. Palmer himself has been known to splash a little bit of vodka in his on occasion. His preferred brand is Ketel One which happens to be another of his endorsements. We started drinking his AriZona mix by the gallon and it wasn’t long before we tried a few experiments of our own. Arnie’s mix tastes great with vodka or rum and is especially tasty when you add one of the flavored varieties, pineapple rum and Arnie’s mix is tough to beat.
During our brainstorming session we stumbled on to one that seemed to be a natural; Arnold Palmer and a wee bit of whiskey. We poured a little Jack Daniel’s in and another iconic beverage was born: The Arnie and Jack. Yes, Arnie and Jack back together again. So it’s not Nicklaus but it’s close enough. Any time we can put Arnie and Jack back together is cause for celebration and why not toast these two legends of the game with their own cocktail. Here’s to Arnie and Jack, the golfers and the drink a little of both is always a good thing.
This has been quite a year in professional golf. For a good portion of the year most of the attention was focused on Tiger Woods and his off course activities. Thankfully that chapter has passed. We have seen a youth movement on the PGA Tour this season. The European Tour and its players have flexed their muscles and continued their resurgence winning all over the world. The LPGA has seen its schedule shrink and watched Lorena Ochoa suddenly retire. The major championships all had their own unique stories. About the only thing you could be sure of was that at the end of the day there would be someone smiling and holding a big trophy.
There is at least one other constant in golf and his name is Phil Mickelson. Phil and his family have had a tough year as we all know but Phil has been able to keep things in perspective. Even with all his family issues he has still managed to carry on in his own special, fan friendly manner. He thrilled us at The Masters with his inspired play and then confounds us other weeks when he misses fairways and two foot putts, but that’s Phil. It is normally hard to tell what kind of day Phil is having on the course because he always seems the same. He smiles and interacts with the galleries, especially the kids, regardless if he is ten over par or coming down the stretch needing a birdie to win.
We have watched him for years and he hasn’t changed. Maybe some time in the future he’ll stop being this generation’s Arnold Palmer but I can’t see it happening. I think he’s the real deal and the people at Golf Magazine think so too. In the October issue they named Phil as “The Golfer of the Year”. With all he does off the course, his dedication to his family and the way he captivates us on the course I couldn’t agree more with Golf Magazine. He’s definitely our golfer of the year.
It keeps getting better for Dustin Johnson. To put it mildly this has been an interesting season for the long hitter from South Carolina. He won early in the year at The AT&T then he spit the bit at The US Open. No one will forget his “bunkergate” at The PGA Championship and now he won at The BMW Championship and is poised to to win The FedEx Cup. Get used to seeing him, he is going to be a star on the US Ryder Cup team in October. He has had a great season so far but he’ll probably be remembered more for his trouble at The PGA than for anything he will do this year.
It was encouraging to see Dustin Johnson close the deal on Sunday at The BMW Championship. After the summer he had he deserved a chance at vindication. With bad memories at the U.S. Open and The PGA Championship this win gives Johnson a truly successful season rather than an off season full of “should haves and could haves.” Johnson’s win over the best PGA Tour players moves him into second place in FedEx Cup points, gives him two wins this year and puts him smack dab in the middle of the Player of the Year race.
Johnson is one of six golfers that have two PGA Tour wins this year. Els, Furyk, Mahan, Rose and Stricker all have two victories as does Johnson. All six are in the Tour Championship next week and a win by any of them would give them a compelling case for Player of the Year. The only other players that could be considered for Player of the Year are Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson. Kuchar leads the tour in half a dozen important statistics and has been one of the hottest golfers of late. If Phil Mickelson were to win the Tour Championship he would end the season with a Masters and a Tour Championship and that would trump any other player with two wins. Phil’s Masters carries a little extra weight in Player of the Year consideration.
There is no clear cut candidate for Player of the Year right now. If none of the aforementioned players were to capture The Tour Championship I would have to give it to Dustin Johnson. His season of two wins and two near misses in the majors should give him the Player of the Year. It all comes down to the final week of the season, just like The PGA Tour planned.
If there ever was a case for “multiple televisions” today is the day. There is plenty of exciting golf to watch, baseball is in the home stretch to the playoffs, the U.S. Open (tennis that is) has a great men’s final today and there’s that group of guys that dominate TV every fall called the NFL. With the start of the NFL season today there will be some tough choices for us golf/NFL fans to make. That is why if you haven’t loaded up on a few extra televisions in your man cave yet you are missing the boat. On fall Sundays in my house three televisions are the minimum that I have on in my living room. How else can you expect to see all the golf, football, tennis, baseball and anything else we sports fans need to watch. Multiple TV’s, it’s the only way and today is the day to start.
Michelle Wie shot a scorching 64 to take a three shot lead at the Northwest Arkansas Championship. She is trying for her second straight win. What a summer vacation this kid is having! Catch it on The Golf Channel at 4:00 pm EST.
The PGA Tour Playoffs have been great even though Tim Finchem may not think so. Today’s final round of the BMW Championship has a bunch of interesting personalities and great golfers on top of the leaderboard. Ryan Moore leads by one but Dustin Johnson, Charlie Wi, Matt Kuchar, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Ernie Els and a bunch more are all within striking distance. Moore and Johnson in the final pairing offer us an interesting combination of two of the more fascinating tour members. Heck, just watching Tiger and Phil in the same pairing will be fun to watch. This looks like Tiger’s exit from the playoffs but him and Phil in the same group is always worth watching. It’s on NBC at 2:00pm EST.
Don’t forget the US Tennis Open. Rafael Nadal will be trying to beat Novak Djokovic, who knocked out Roger Federer, to get his career grand slam. It’s on CBS at 4:00pm.
Here me when I say Multiple TV’s, it’s the only way.
Have you ever wondered what a golf ball looks like when it hits a steel plate travelling at 150 mph? Wonder no more. Check out this slow motion video filmed with a high speed camera at 70,000 frames per second. It’s wild.
How do you like the FedEx Cup Playoffs so far? I am loving them. Who needs Tiger or Phil to win everything? Not me.
Matt Kuchar continues his hot streak with an opening 64 to lead this week’s BMW Championship. Could Matt be this year’s Tiger and win two events and the FedEx Cup? He looked to be this year’s Heath Slocum but if he keeps this up he’ll be looking more like Tiger then Tiger does right now.
How about Charley Hoffman shooting lights out at The Deutsche Bank and stealing one for the long hairs? The thing about these guys winning is that it not only shows the depth of the talent on the PGA Tour it highlights the personalities on the tour. Names like Kuchar, Hoffman, Martin Laird, Kevin Streelman and Jason Day won’t get many casual fans excited but if they would just watch the tournament they could see that these guys are not just good golfers they are interesting stories also.
Take for example the first round leaderboard at The BMW: Kuchar, Ryan Moore, Ian Poulter and Retief Goosen lead and each of them are distinct and interesting personalities. The first two weeks may not have had a Tiger or a Phil dominating the field or the television ratings but there was plenty of interesting golf being played. I like it when the big names contend for sure but I can really appreciate all the good golfers out there that work each week to try and grab a piece of history. Sorry Mr. Finchem, I don’t need Tiger or Phil to win each week. So far I am loving The Playoffs just as they are.
So we are talking playoffs today and not the NFL playoffs, the PGA Tour Playoffs and the Tour Championship. The Tour finishes up its regular season this week when the 30 top point earners tee it up at Bobby Jones’ childhood home, East Lake Country Club.
and steady play all season. When Matt Kuchar carded his first win of the season in the first playoff event, The Barclays, he vaulted to first place in the FedEx Cup points. Charley Hoffman was in 77th place at the start of the Deutsche Bank Championship. His win moved him to second place and he now sits in third place. It’s crazy but a guy could win three majors and be trumped by a guy with a hot putter at the Barclays because “Playoff Points” are worth so much more. It doesn’t seem right.
