Money Versus Points: Two systems equal confusion on the PGA Tour

Mark Wilson won the Honda Classic a few weeks ago. That feat by itself would have earned a Masters invitation in the not-too-distant past. As of this morning, Wilson sat in 8th place on the FedEx Cup points list; he now finds himself in the 10th slot. On the official money list, Wilson occupied the 9th slot this morning, but dropped to 12th when the CA Championship was completed. Guess what? Wilson will stay home the week of The Masters. His 10th slot on the “new and official” list is not good enough to earn a coveted invitation to Augusta. Confused? So is Wilson.

If the PGA Tour was so gung-ho about this new system, shouldn’t it have consulted the powers-that-be at the major, non-tour events (The Masters, the US and British Opens, and the PGA)to seek to align their early-season event exemptions with the FedEx list, not the money list? Here’s how the two lists currently compare:

Money:
Singh, Woods, Howell 3, Mickelson, Rollins, Baddeley, Ogilvy, Stenson, Calcavecchia, Allenby (Wilson is 12th)

FedEx:
Singh, Howell 3, Woods, Mickelson, Rollins, Baddeley, Calcavecchia, Allenby, Ogilvy, Wilson (Stenson is 11th)

So, assuming that none of the top ten had been eligible for invitation to The Masters before today, Stenson would be the big winner, with Wilson the big loser. Interesting factoid is the three-spot gap for both (Stenson rises from 11th to 8th from FedEx to Money, while Wilson falls from 9th to 12th.)

In the end, the big winners are Howell 3 , Baddeley, Rollins and Calcavecchia. Thanks to their performance in the first portion of the 2007 season, this pregnable quadrilateral receives an invitation to Augusta based on its top-ten placement on the Money List. Since all four also rank in the top ten on the FedEx Points list, the only exception (and non-exemption) is Wilson’s. Life is like that, but I wish it didn’t have to be.