US tour revamped
Tiger Woods appears to have got his wish for a shorter US Tour season following the announcement of major changes to the schedule from 2007.
As well as pleasing the world number one, the plans revealed by tour commissioner Tim Finchem are designed to boost television audiences later in the season when golf is up against baseball’s world series and the start of the American football season.
The three major features are:
::The establishment of the FedEx Cup, a season-long points bonus program.
::A Tour Championship Series of four tournaments which focuses on the final push for the FedEx Cup title. This will culminate with The Tour Championship which will move from early November to mid-September.
::The creation of the “Quest for the Card” series which follows The Tour Championship and determines the remainder of the 125 players who will retain their cards for the following season.
The Tour Championship, being staged this week in Atlanta, has lost some of its appeal in recent years with the money list and player-of-the-year titles often already decided.
“Changing the format is a great idea, having a new product is a great idea, and ending in a play-off is a great idea,” said Davis Love, one of four player directors on the Tour’s policy board.
“We want a hotly-contested end of the season that grabs everyone’s attention and people really want to watch.”
Earlier thisseason Woods expressed his concerns about the ever-increasing schedule.
“We have an 11-month season, and that’s too long,” Woods said. “There’s no other sport that plays 11 months of the year. I think we should end with Labor Day (the first Monday in September).
“How can we compete against football? It’s not going to happen.”
