A WEEK OFF: A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS

by Doug McAllister

What a void a week off from the regular PGA schedule makes. I guess that the thought is the 30 who have qualified for East Lake need time to regroup, to rest and to get ready for the finale.

Given the fact that I wasn't able to spend my Saturday following the latest event, I found my mind entertaining a few random thoughts about the Playoffs, the game generally and, with the Ryder Cup just around the corner, about my favorite golfer of all time, Payne Stewart.


THE PLAYOFFS

I have to admit that my thoughts today about the Playoffs and the FedEx Cup were spurred by a rather astute article in this week's issue of GolfWorld magazine by John Feinstein. Tucked in the very back of the issue, the article provides some rather eye-popping facts about the current playoff system.

Did you know that, should a player finish a legitimate Grand Slam during the course of the calendar year — all four majors during the same annual season — he would garner only 2,400 points toward winning the FedEx Cup? But isn't 2,400 a pretty impressive number? Not when compared to the 2,500 points that the winner of a single Playoff event receives. That's right, Matt Kuchar won 100 points more for winning The Barclays than he would have won had he completed the Grand Slam! Ridiculous!

Even more ridiculous is the fact, so eloquently communicated by Feinstein in his article, that Charley Hoffman garnered the same 2,500 points for winning the BMW and never hit a single shot in any of this year's Major Championships. That's correct! Hoffman could walk away with the FedEx Cup — a trophy positioned to represent the best player on tour this year — without having qualified for a single Major. Preposterous!

I had never really put 2 and 2 together here. It's mind boggling to admit that the Playoff seems to be as broken a process as it is. Oh yes, the Player of the Year honors are not inseparably tied to the FedEx Cup, but shouldn't they be? Should someone this year win the FedEx Cup and not be the Player of the Year, that would certainly begin the debate in earnest!

Read Feinstein's article if you get the chance. You'll, perhaps, come away as I did, with the notion that the PGA these days is far, far more about money and not nearly enough about real golfing excellence and achievement.


GOLF'S STAYING POWER

But, as I've noted ad nauseam in past posts, Golf's staying power is as far from the workings of the professional ranks as Earth is from Pluto (that is is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-largest body observed directly orbiting the Sun. Originally classified as a planet, Pluto is now considered the largest...er...but I'm woefully off track!).

Think of it (again). Whether Eldrick misses this year's BIG DANCE or whether Camillo Villegas switches his clubs from Titleist to TaylorMade or whether John Daly's golf pants can actually trigger seizures among viewers in the gallery IS TOTALLY IMMATERIAL! That's right! Not one of the seemingly earth shattering scenarios can straighten your slice or sharpen your ability to read a hard-breaking putt or add twenty yards to your drives.

Want to know why? Because Golf is as personal to you as your own fingerprints. If you're a true golf aficionado the PGA could go to Pluto and you would keep on playing the game just as you always have. Think about that. If your satisfaction of the real game of Golf depends on the workings of the PGA it's time to hang up the clubs and join Roosevelt Grier's online crocheting club!


THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER PAYNE STEWART

Owing to the lack of a tournament today, I popped in a recording of the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst #2. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I recall watching the tournament back in '99. The drama of Payne's final round. His amputated rain jacket. Stewart's long, sweet swing. The final putt. Magical stuff then. More magical still when one realizes that Payne had just a few months left to live.

Since '99 it's been interesting how much Payne's legend has grown. TV specials. Biographies. Special foundations and funds in Payne's name. Remarkable!

Payne's class, especially when juxtaposed against recent goings on in the lives of various Tour players, is sorely missed in far too many ways. For one, no doubt — if Stewart were alive — we wouldn't be tolerating Corey Pavin at the helm of this year's Ryder cup venture.

But despite the fact that Stewart's life was so rudely snuffed out over a decade ago, there are those who forge on in the same spirit. I miss Payne because he was one of the rare few on Tour who seemed to be able to separate Golf from the professional game. He was also able to put Golf and life in the proper perspective. One need only watch the end of his triumph at Pinehurst in '99 — as he clutched Mickelson's face and wished luck for Mickelson's imminent fatherhood and offered the counsel that fatherhood was the BIG DEAL — to know the truth of that!


With that, HELAS!