The Tour's Big Shell Game

Forgive me for noticing that the PGA Tour Championship is the only sports championship that takes place prior to the end of the season. The FedEx Cup merely culminates the PGA Tour's big shell game. The real end of the PGA Tour season remains a meaningless cash grab for second and third tier players. So much for ending with a bang. The final events of 2007 are barely a whimper.

My guess is that the tour is purposefully moving towards a shorter season, and will eventually have a Tour Championship that actually marks the end of the season. There are lots of reasons. A big one is the admission that it is simply impossible to motivate the top tier players to play in events that don't appear on their radar (think of any event that has the name Walmart in it).

I also believe that the tour's powers that be are wise enough to see toward a day when Tiger Woods will have his 19 majors. When that days comes, the tour will experience a compression effect that will be unmistakable. The men's tour is not like the LPGA, where the tour's success is largely the result of a solid ensemble cast supporting a diverse group of leading players.

The PGA tour starts and stops with Tiger Woods. Now, more than a decade into his career, he is still the only true draw on tour, especially when it comes to the almighty television dollar. It is astounding that no other player has emerged to add standalone appeal to the tour. As Woods' draws closer to his lofty goals the tour moves towards a time sans Tiger and I believe that scares them to death.