Tiger Woods kicks the FedEx Cup in the groin
The FedEx Cup already suffered from some serious credibility issues. Now Tiger Woods is threatening to make a mockery of it before it even begins.
Tiger announced today that he is skipping the first event in the four-tournament FedEx Cup playoffs, next week’s Barclays Classic in New York City’s shadow. Woods cites exhaustion from the PGA Championship, but he might as well chalk it up to indifference. He’s not fooling anyone.
This is no small blow to PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem who desperately needed all the Tour’s stars to commit in this first year to give a concept with plenty of doubters legitimacy. Instead Finchem gets every star but the one who really matters.
Woods has such a commanding lead in the hieroglyphics-like FedEx Cup standings that he can skip the first event and still win the four-tournament playoffs. Which is like the NBA deciding that the Dallas Mavericks get a free pass into the second round. The absurdity of this is not Tiger’s fault. Still, if he cared at all about making this $10 million playoffs viable, he’d be in Westchester, New York next week.
I’m actually one of the people few a little intrigued by the FedEx Cup (Besides Sports Illustrated which hit its subscribers with the first and perhaps last glossy full issue FedEx Cup preview ever). It’s certainly better than the usual virtually Silly Season-worthy follow ups to the PGA Championship. I’ll be at the Barclays all next week, with daily coverage on WorldGolf.com. You’ll still get Vijay Singh, Faker Phil Mickelson (who’s usually planning his kids’ trick or treating right now), Sergio Garcia and mad mouth Woody Austin.
It will be interesting to see how golf fans react, if they show they care.
Tiger clearly doesn’t.
| « Michael Vick guilty plea bargain shows why PGA Tour's Tim Finchem has the easiest commissioner job in sports | Woody Austin channels Rory Sabbatini: Why such Tiger Woods morons? » |
24 comments
way FedEx broke my clubs a few
years ago. (Remember that FedEx? You
shattered those shafts like cheap tees!)
YOU NO LONGER WRITE ABOUT MS. WIE?! Oh, I almost forgot...she can not even make the cut on the LPGA.
I find it somewhat of an anomaly that you find something wrong with Tiger snubbing the first round of the FedEx cup.
Maybe the suits at FedEx need a beatdown just like his opponents on the PGA tour.
Can't believe Tiger's not recovered after
10 days. (Unless Elin's recovered from
childbirth and she rewarded him grandly
for another major...)
hence, the exhaustion!... for instance.
I repeat, none of US understands what he puts into his preparation, all we know is his formula works--he gets the job done. Whether his exhaustion is mental or physical, his level of performance earns the benefit of doubt, in my opinion.
And Oliver, to your well thought out final argument I offer: Arnold Palmer sponsored by MasterCard(American Express); Ford Champ at Doral(Buick), Wachovia Champ...you get the point.
They know full well that the top pros will rest up before 4 weeks of non-stop playing. Not to mention that the event will be treated like a 'Monday qualifier' for the people hovering around the 144 FedEx points.
Now where's the respect from the PGA Tour to the organizer to the event?
You're assigning too much mysticism to Woods' preparation regimen.
As a matter of fact, Tiger plays golf professionally, he doesn't run marathons or swim the English Channel for his paychecks.
Outside of practicing diligently,
watching his weight, staying fit with exercise, and getting a good amount of rest and a proper diet, what else could his regimen consist of?
I am pretty good friends with a PGA touring pro, one who is a few years away from the Champions' Tour. He has won more than once on the PGA tour. I won't divulge his name but he is an Ohio State alumnus and he makes his home in upstate New York.
He read your post and got a good chuckle from it. To any touring pro, playing a round of golf ,or even four rounds, is a piece of cake, an everyday occurrence. One day of relaxation is more than enough to recharge one's batteries.
His opinion is that Tiger wins more than anyone else not so much because he has any magical shots, but that he has more natural ability than almost any other pro, he maintains his level of play more consistently than any other pro, and he nev er accepts anything but the best from himself.
My friend said that Tiger was certainly within his rights to decline playing in the Barclay's, but exhaustion of any type was no factor.
player, but I am not a fan in any other respect. I am just so happy that I will be able to follow the Barclays's w/o wall to wall coverage of him for a change. Only problem is how to get rid of guests inadvertently invited for (us) Bank Holiday w/e.
Choke job by Paula?
I thought she finished second?
I didn't see it, but was there any chance for Paula to win?
If NONE of us can begin to understand the realities of an elite professional athlete's life, how can you be so sure that we're wrong?
Oh, and the only thing you can know for sure is that YOU can't understand such realities; you can't know what I know. However, you prove my point when you confess your ignorance in this matter.
Lastly, I don't have to have ascended to Woods' level to comment on his behavior any more than you need to have been the CEO of a major corporation to comment on Wal-Mart or a forester to comment on the destruction of rainforest.
Yeah, if she made those two gimmes she would have closed to within 1 shot of Ochoa and then who knows. Ochoa hasn't been the closer throughout her career. OK, choking is too harsh, but then when have you seen Paula miss two puts of about 2' in the back nine on Sunday?
Why the tour should be happy Woods isn't playing this week
By Ron Sirak
GolfDigest.com
I like his take on the issue
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