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PGA Tour radically changes its schedule
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-03 10:37
ATLANTA - Tiger Woods walked wearily across the parking lot in twilight
Wednesday, recalling the year he played eight consecutive weeks as he wrapped up
his record-setting 2000 season.
"I was wiped out at the end of the
year," he said.
Woods might want to get used to playing long stretches under a new PGA Tour
schedule in 2007 that commissioner Tim Finchem said would include the "most
impactful series of events in the history of our sport."
It includes a season-long points race called the FedEx Cup. It features three
blockbluster events leading to the Tour Championship, which would end in
September, with a payoff that Finchem said likely will be the largest of any
playoff system in sports.
About the only thing missing was the details.
Finchem delivered a skeletal sketch of the new season, conceding that he has
not figured out where all the pieces fit and how the points race will work. The
idea was to make golf look like other sports at the end of the year.
"We're really the only sport that doesn't have a stronger finish than our
regular season," he said.
Top players rarely compete in the same tournaments once the major
championships end in August. Four of the top five players in the world — Woods,
Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els — played together in
four tournaments before the Masters.
Goosen skipped a World Golf Championship last month, while Mickelson is not
at the Tour Championship.
Under the new model, the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone would precede
the PGA Championship. One week later would be the start of the Championship
Series, in which points accrued since January would be prorated going into three
straight tournaments, with the top 30 eligible for the Tour Championship.
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