Faulty system proved perfect

Posted Sep 28, 2009 by Ryan Lavner

Updated Sep 28, 2009 at 07:49 PM

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the No. 1- and 2-ranked players in the world, the sometimes caustic competitors, the two best golfers of our era, stood on the 18th green at East Lake Golf Club on Sunday, each clutching a trophy, each tasked with putting this year’s FedEx Cup playoffs in the proper context.

Woods won the FedEx Cup. He took home the $10 million bonus—and, surely, the Player of the Year award with his second-place finish at The Tour Championship. 

Mickelson capped a tumultuous summer with a signature victory at the tour’s premier event, surging from four strokes behind to a three-stroke win over Woods, his long-time nemesis.

All seems right in the golfing universe.

Indeed, there was no awkward photo-op, unlike last year, when FedEx Cup champ Vijay Singh, who had clinched the title the previous week and needed to merely stay upright for the four rounds outside Atlanta, hoisted the hardware during a hastily-called news conference while the final round was still in progress.

There was no mundane finale, unlike in 2007, when FedEx Cup champ Woods, who skipped the first playoff event, cruised to a dominating victory, barely breaking a sweat in the Atlanta humidity, while tucking away the $10 million into his already overflowing savings account.

No, this one was more what PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem had envisioned: The sport’s two biggest stars, side-by-side, each with a trophy to call his own.

“I feel like the day turned out well,” Mickelson said afterward, and it had. Struggling mightily with his game after learning in the spring that his wife and mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and after a crushing defeat at the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black that he never seemed to fully recover from, Mickelson now has closure. He now has time, not conflict. He now can focus on other, more important things.

Lefty got a $3 million bonus for placing second in the yearlong FedEx Cup race, which was revamped during the winter after it failed to manufacture the late-season magic and significance it vowed in the hokey, every-shot-matters commercials. 

This system still isn’t perfect, and it probably never will be. The flaws, if borne out, would have been devastating—particularly the scenario that Jim Furyk could capture the FedEx Cup without winning a single tournament all season—but this year, we can only speculate, only ask ‘what if?’.

The right guy (Woods) won. Six victories, three runner-up finishes, the tour’s best scoring average—all after undergoing major knee surgery last summer.

“To be as consistent as I have been all year is something that I’m very proud of,” he said.

The PGA Tour should be proud, too.

It finally had a relevant conclusion, with relevant stars taking home prizes that are relatively significant, even if they’re merely change-in-the-couch for these multimillionaires. And even though the system is still far from perfect, it worked to perfection this year.