The FedEx Cup will never be a classic - stick to the PGA Championship, Ryder Cup and majors

Here is the one and only reason why the FedEx Cup series and year-end tournament will never be that big of a deal - even if Tiger Woods flies in from one of his private hideaways in the Pacific every once in awhile to compete:

It’s called the FedEx Cup.

Really, PGA Tour? You needed a sponsor? Gotta squeeze out every couple million you can? Hasn’t Tiger made you all enough money???? Now you’re canceling his “winter happy time” just as soon as he finds a knockout wife to spend it with? He’s gotta be pissed.

I know there’s a Nextel Cup, but Golf fans are a little more affluent than car racing fans. The Masters is so sacred it can’t even have the normal allocation of commercials. A sponsor might make your tour a little extra cash immediately, but in long-term marketability, you’ve screwed your greedy-little-selves.

“Jack Nicklaus wins his 4th Wheaties Green Jacket!”
“Tom Watson dominates the field at T-Mobile’s St. Andrews!”
“Red Wings hoist 11th Tim Horton’s Stanley Cup!”

Corporate sponsorships takes away credibility from a championship (unless of course Michelle Wie has been exempted). You have to make it timeless - put a story behind it filled with important white old men - preferrably wearing monocles and drinking scotch while beating their caddie. Call it the Bobby Jones Cup. Who cares if he had nothing to do with it? It’ll be more important because there are no color photographs of Bobby Jones.

Having an end-of-year tournament that crowns a season-long champion is a great idea. Long overdue. Sadly it should have been done before the big sellout. As “Number 2″ in Austin Powers profoundly stated: “There is no ‘world’ anymore, it’s all corporations“.

Case in point: The Ryder Cup Matches remain a big deal - despite its funky, obsolescent format because it’s called The Ryder Cup and there’s a quirky little story involving some funny black-and-white photographs.

Wait a second, isn’t there a moving company called Ryder?

I give up.

Old photo = big deal