23 under? REALLY? That’s the golf course we want them to play for the finals of the first ever Fedex Cup?
Sure, that was only Tiger, and it’s not like he’s human or something, but the actual men in the field laid waste to the course as well a mere 8 strokes behind that. Yes, mere. Tiger’s ability is just sick, so it’s not fair to compare other golfers to him.
Of course he won the FedEx Cup. And the Tour Championship. And Player of the Year. With authority. It wouldn’t seem right to have any of those titles go to anyone other than the world’s best golfer ever. So in that respect, the FedEx Cup was a success. I know a lot of folks were rooting for Stricker to win so the $10 million bonus would mean something, and at least he earned himself the $3M second place annuity. That’ll be some decent retirement money at any percentage rate. But let’s face it – if Tiger “sat on his laurels” and decided not to win, the Fedex Cup would have been criticized for not delivering the true champion. It would have been weird to have the Tour Championship trophy go to one guy, the Fedex Cup to another and the Player of the Year to yet another. Weird and wrong.
The Fedex Cup will continue to be criticized for its other problems – like the fact that the winner only had to play in 3 out of 4 playoff events (and could have done it in two), and the points system, and the schedule, and the final golf course, to name a few. But if nothing else, at least the right man being won.
Is this a human drinking glass?
September 17, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Chicky –
Check your history. The Tour Championship has been played at East Lake since 1998 and only one score of 62 had been posted – this weekend there were two. 60 is a new course record.
It wasn’t the course, it was the conditions.
Scoring is usually in the single digits under par for the winner.
Wait until next year when the bent grass is gone and the new high tech bermuda is in place. Hard – firm – and FAST.
Tiger said – on slow greens, a bad putt has a chance to go in because it won’t go shooting past the hole – on a fast green, a bad putt will almost never go in.
Oh, it’s not an annuity. On Monday, Fed Ex will be depositing $10 million into Tiger’s retirement account (smaller amounts for the other 29 players down to $175,000 for 30th place). That money will start accruing interest and when they retire, they will start drawing on that amount until it runs out.
An annuity is an amount that more or less replenishes itself with interest and pays out up to the amount promised.
In Tiger’s case, if he retired at 45 (or whenever he decided to stop being an active PGA Tour member no younger than 45) to start drawing that much needed pension (lol), he would have somewhere in the area of $26 million. If he had an annuity, he would have $10 million.
Just learned this myself.
Remember, too, the Fed Ex Cup is a marketing tool for Fed Ex. It’s a bit of prestige for the players, but they are playing for that nice big paycheck. It has as about as much affect on golf as the player of the year award. Just enjoy that it is a big enough incentive to bring out the best players for a few weeks out of the year.
If the scheduling isn’t fixed and the system improved, some of the top players will just stop playing and the Fed Ex Cup will eventually just go away.
September 18, 2007 at 7:09 am
One of the things I cannot understand is the choice of the course. To be the final of the playoffs, I expected a tougher venue for the pro’s, probably like Oakmont. And maybe the greens are in better shape there as well.
September 18, 2007 at 2:38 pm
The course is plenty hard – the course CONDITIONS were easy – THIS YEAR. It will not be in this condition next year with the new greens.
September 18, 2007 at 5:12 pm
You go Tiger! You’re the man! Now take some time off and spend it on your 140 foot yacht why don’t you
September 19, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Hey Mike – you think Tiger will start plans to top Greg Norman’s new toy boat ? His is 228 feet long. It has a 42′ boat to drop for smaller fishing parties away from the bigger boat. ONLY $70 mil. The pictures are amazing.