A lot of people are griping about the possibility of Padraig Harrington missing the Tour Championship in Atlanta because he’s missed two cuts in the PGA Tour playoffs.

Harrington, of course, had a career year, winning two majors, the British Open and the PGA Championship. But, he’s missed two cuts in the four-tournament playoff and dropped to 44th in the standings, from fourth.

Harrington himself has said he has no problem with it.

Neither do I.

Look, if the bigwigs can sully baseball, why the hell not golf? Baseball was designed to bring out excellence over the long haul. That went out the window with the playoffs, which were designed to make TV money. You can have a team totally dominant during the regular season, only to tank in the playoffs.

Fair? Who cares? They’re making money.

Same with golf. The golf playoffs are much more exciting this year because players can move up or down more radically, due to the change in the way they award points.

Playoffs are meant to reward strong finishers, not excellence over the long haul. That’s why they’re called playoffs. That’s why the winner gets a cool $10 million.

I’m not saying some tweaking might not be helpful, but don’t whine when your favorite player gets left out because of fatigue, pressure, other hot players, whatever.

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