The Joy of Golf: PGA find right formula for FedEx Playoffs

Joy Chakravarty 08:02 21/08/2014
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  • Out of the rough: Watch out for Lee Westwood to make a charge in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

    Unlike tennis, where the grand slams start with the Australian Open in January and end with the US Open in September, golf’s major season is extremely short – beginning with the Masters in April and finishing with the PGA Championship in August. For diehard fans, that’s a tiny window of five months of excitement, but thankfully, there are some very strong events from now on to November to keep the interest levels up.

    Obviously, every other year, we have the Ryder Cup and the President’s Cup. And we have the fourevent FedEx Cup Playoffs on the PGA Tour, which starts with The Barclays this week, and a similar number of big events on the European Tour’s Final Series.

    A lot to look forward to, but let’s just concentrate on the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the time being.

    Ever since it was launched in 2007, the PGA Tour has kept on tweaking it and I think we have reached a point where it works well. The problem in the beginning was that there was a chance someone with a strong regular season had a chance of making the Playoffs pointless.

    I did not like it one bit when despite Rory McIlroy’s magnificent performance in 2012, when he won the PGA Championship, and then two successive Playoff events – the Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship – he still finished second to Tiger Woods.

    It’s difficult to get the right balance of the weightage of regular season performance versus that during the four Playoff events.

    The real fun is when the season only helps you qualify for the Playoffs, and then you let the performance in the big four events determine what kind of a share you get of the $35 million (Dh128m) bonus pot. And the current system of resetting of points does that to a large extent.

    While what is happening at the top of the standings is definitely exciting, for me, the more fun part is when a player starts making a run from the bottom. And this year, there are several players outside the top 100 who are capable of going all the way.

    Let’s take a look at some of those who are ranked 90 and upwards, but who could give McIlroy something to chew over the next five weeks…

    Nick Watney (below): Currently No94, but the American is finally showing some sparks of life. After struggling for most part of the year, he now has two top-10s in his last three starts, and almost won the Wyndham if not for a last-hole double bogey.

    Lee Westwood: Ranked 107th, but the Englishman is highly motivated as he wants to make it to the Ryder Cup and this is his chance. Two top- 20s in his last two starts is a big difference from four successive missed cuts before that.

    Paul Casey: He is 118th on the FedEx Cup list, which means he surely needs to make the cut at The Barclays to advance to next week. Casey is playing well without having the right results, and perhaps a return to Ridgewood Country Club this week, where he finished inside the top-15 in previous two visits, will make all the difference.

    Louis Oosthuizen: The South African has been struggling with his back most of the season, but he did have a superb outing at the PGA Championship. If he stays healthy, Oosthuizen has the talent and the game to make a big move from his current 123rd place.

    Bubba apologises…again!

    Bubba Watson is one of a kind golfer and I really am an unabashed fan of his playing style. What I don’t like is his cry-baby attitude whenever things are not going well for him on the golf course.

    We have seen him brood every now and then, and we have seen him shouting and mocking his caddie, Ted Scott, for his own mistakes. The most famous outburst was last year at the Travelers Championship when he publically ridiculed Scott for “giving” him a wrong club, before winning the tournament two holes later.

    Then there was the famous episode of him playing the French Open, and not remembering any of the French landmarks and making a joke of himself.

    And when it started raining at the PGA Championship at Valhalla, his rant of “I’ve got nothing” and his use of expletives did not win him any fans for sure.

    So, Bubba apologised. He apologised to his caddie, and then gifted him a luxury Lexus sedan and a Toyota pick-up as bonus. He apologised to the fans for his boorish behavior at Valhalla. And on the eve of The Barclays, he was apologising once again – this time for not being nice to PGA’s long-drive competition that they re-started at Valhalla this year.

    Watson was unequivocal in his criticism of the new initiative – an effort to engage the fans during the practice day – and even hit a seveniron off the tee that day. Every other golfer was happy to unleash their driver on that hole and give it an extra effort.

    I just hope Bubba grows up. Because, golf does need his genius, but minus the attitude.

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