Much Ado About Something: The Tour Championship

Is the FedExCup Race Stealing Precious Steam From the Ryder Cup?

Chris Duthie

With the much-ballyhooed Tour Championship (this week in Atlanta) and the always-dramatic Ryder Cup (Sept. 23-28 in Scotland) upon us, the PGA Tour is positioned to pull out all the stops and go out with an explosive, season-ending bang… or is it?

Not much more can be written about this year’s season, except—to underscore the point—it’s been one of lackluster, mostly no-name leaderboards.

Sure, we enjoyed some brilliant fireworks at the majors—the battle for the PGA Championship was extraordinary—but minus Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy, the absence of big-gun professionals from trophy presentations (including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, neither of whom won this year) have made the 2013/14 campaign largely forgettable.

Now come the supposedly huge Tour Championship and the awarding of $10 million to the winner of the FedExCup. Tiger and Phil and Henrik Stenson won’t be playing East Lake, and Dustin Johnson’s “voluntary” exile further dilutes the field to 29 no-cut qualifiers, each of whom are guaranteed an estimated tournament bankroll of at least a half million dollars.

Mickelson’s withdrawal from the BMW pretty much showed how much he cared about the FedEx Cup, and even last year’s champion, Henrik Stenson, called missing the Tour Championship (he finished 52nd in FedEx points) a “win-win” since he could rest up for the Ryder Cup.

Let’s face it: Does anyone except their mothers really care whether Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel—followed by Watson, McIlroy and Hunter Mahan—are the FedExCup points leaders going into Atlanta’s East Lake Country Club?

What is fascinating, however, is that, despite the brilliant, late-season surges of Kirk, Horschel and Morgan Hoffmann, none were selected by Captain Tom Watson to play on America’s Ryder Cup team.

This week’s Tour Championship may be an early peek at the Ryder Cup: who’s hot, who’s not, who’s going through the motions and who’s flat-out fatigued.

Like Sergio Garcia apparently was at the BMW Championship where… on the par-5 71^st hole and threatening to overtake the leader… he forfeited eagle by laying up… and instead carded an AreYouKiddingMe? triple-bogey 8.

Or like McIlroy might be, who showed real signs of strain when he four-putted the 12^th hole on Saturday and Sunday, and blew any chance of securing the BMW title.

Will the Tour Championship further tap steam out of Ryder Cuppers like Masters champion Bubba Watson, who appears to have paced his long season just well enough to peak for Gleneagles?

We’ll see soon enough. Stay tuned.

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Chris Duthie is a contributor to Colorado AvidGolfer, the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.