"I can easily picture a teenager in 2050 measuring greatness both in terms of majors won and FedExCup titles."
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Whoa Nellie, the FedEx negotiations must have hit a snag!
According to Yahoo's Jay Busbee, PGA Tour VP Ty Votaw felt compelled to rebut a Michael Arkush column blasting the ridiculous early season FedExCup shilling. And Arkush didn't even mention the offensive electronic scoreboard posting of standings that makes catching a leaderboard about as common as a rare white elk sighting!
Ty writes:
Let me say this loud and clear: I LOVE THE FEDEXCUP.
Caps, but no copyright symbol?
There, I've said it. And the PGA TOUR's "partners" (the television networks) updating us more on the standings this early in the season is no different than NFL announcers talking about whether the Pittsburgh Steelers can still make the playoffs after starting 2-4. Doesn't that provide relevance to the Steelers' season and what they have to do to get to the playoffs? Same goes for the FedExCup.
There is a difference. People actually care about the NFL playoffs. Millions of people, actually.
At this time last year, I don't know if many people were predicting that Jim Furyk would win the FedExCup.
He's right few were predicting it because no one cares enough to get into the FedExCup predicting business.
But two wins in the spring (Transitions and Heritage) positioned him quite nicely when The TOUR Championship came around.
Was that after the first or second point re-shuffle?
I have no problem with the TOUR trying to promote the FedExCup.
You're paid several hundred thousand dollars to think that, it should be noted.
I know how overwhelming it is to have great fields play four weeks in a row. Five years into this experiment, the FedExCup means more to me now than it did when it first started.
See last snarky cut-in.
Seriously. There is no doubt that greatness in golf, and this is part of the sport's beauty, is measured by how players perform in the major championships. That's why great players and FedExCup winners like Tiger Woods (14 majors, 2 FedExCups), Vijay Singh (3 majors, 1 FedExCup) and Jim Furyk (1 major, 1 FedExCup) have made the season-long competition so compelling. Time will tell, but I can easily picture a teenager in 2050 measuring greatness both in terms of majors won and FedExCup titles.
Your imagination is richer than I thought!
My dream is for Michael Arkush to see that the FedExCup was never intended to be more important than the major championships, but rather be an additional achievement in measuring greatness. Maybe after he reads this column, my dream can come true.
Keep dreaming the dream, Ty!
