new PGA Tour format - FedEx Cup

[Craptacular]

hxxp://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2210420 (yes, I hxxp'ed it)

For those of you who don't want to read the article, the tour listened to the top players who can't stand to play golf for millions of dollars after August, and will institute the FedEx Cup (similar to NASCAR). Players will earn points, they'll have a few big tournaments after the PGA in August, and "finish" with the Tour Championship in September (the Tour Championship this year starts tomorrow). Fine.

The part I don't get is how they think anyone will watch the six or seven tournaments after the Tour Championship, called the Quest for the Card. These are tournaments that count towards the official money list, so the also-rans can try to get into the top 125. Yeah, you might also get a few people in the 30-50 place range trying to secure (or protect) a Masters invitation, but why are the fans going to watch them? Tiger ain't gonna play. Phil ain't gonna play. Sergio? Retief? Vijay might play, but that's just because he seems to play in everything. I'm probably one of the few people on this board who would even watch most golf tournaments, but I think I'll have a hard time watching when the most compelling storyline is to see if Doug Barron can keep his card. Hell, I might even watch ONE of those ... but SEVEN??? Why would any sponsor want to shell out big bucks for a tourney likely to have no big names and no TV audience? I understand that many of the tournaments on the current schedule fail to attract big names, but they still seem to have more meaning and excitement than any of these "Quest for the Card" tourneys will have.

[ISiddiqui]

LOL... this is soooo influenced by NASCAR that I'm half expecting players to have sponsor patches on their shirts ;).

[Craptacular]

LOL... this is soooo influenced by NASCAR that I'm half expecting players to have sponsor patches on their shirts ;).
Of course it is. However, NASCAR doesn't finish the season by having the guys who finished 30th and below in the points race for seven weeks to see who goes back to the Busch series and ARCA ... and expect anyone to care.

[Young Drachma]

I think that it'll be good for stories. Like, you get a guy that is an also ran that has a good story and it'll get people to tune in. Real golf fans.

[miami_fan]

I think that it'll be good for stories. Like, you get a guy that is an also ran that has a good story and it'll get people to tune in. Real golf fans.

More than the real golf fans are now?

[Ragone]

woh... people watch golf on tv?

[JonInMiddleGA]

The part I don't get is how they think anyone will watch the six or seven tournaments after the Tour Championship, called the Quest for the Card.

I don't get the feeling they think anybody is going to watch those tournaments ... but I also don't get the feeling they feel like anybody is watching the tournaments on that part of the calendar now anyway.

They're trying to get things wrapped up before the NFL season gets into high gear and seem to me to be acknowledging that once that happens, they can't compete for attention.

Why would any sponsor want to shell out big bucks for a tourney likely to have no big names and no TV audience?

Same reason a lot of them do it now -- ego. If ARCA races can find sponsors, so can a handful of golf tournaments that have a field of bottom-feeders. They may be different sponsors than they have now (I'd expect to see those tournies to find sponsors that are more regional/local than national), and they may be at different prices than they get now, but I imagine they'll find them nonetheless.

[TroyF]

What are you talkinga bout with the sponsor? Look at the title of the end of season tourney: The FedEx Cup. Fed Ex probably gave em as much money as they usually received in advertising for those tournaments by themselves.

As for why others would sponsor it, it's like Jon said, EGO. PGA events aren't the four day events we see on TV. They are a week of events. And the Pro-Am is a huge thing. For a corporate exec to be able to take an important client and play a round of golf with a pro on a PGA tour course, most of these guys will fall over each other trying.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

The chase for The Nextel Cup souns so better than the Chase for the FedEx cup...

[Ksyrup]

The chase for The Nextel Cup souns so better than the Chase for the FedEx cup...
Yeah, why the hell chase it? Just send it overnight morning delivery.

Bah-da-bump!

[Ksyrup]

I assume this means the PGA Tour will be following in other NASCAR footsteps, such as...




'Racy' writing: Harlequin to publish NASCAR-themed titles

Last Updated Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:08:55 EST CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html)


Harlequin Enterprises, best known for its romance fiction titles, is planning to add novels with storylines plucked from the NASCAR stock car racing circuit. A licensing agreement announced Wednesday with NASCAR will see Harlequin publish a variety of NASCAR-branded "women's fiction" titles.

<TABLE cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=0 width=220 align=right hspace="4"><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/harlequin_titles.jpg </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>Some Harlequin romance fiction titles.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>"The novels, by some of Harlequin's bestselling authors, will have plotlines centering on NASCAR and will bear the NASCAR brand on their covers," the companies said in a joint statement.

NASCAR claims 75 million fans and says 30 million of them are women.

"NASCAR has one of the largest and most loyal bases of female fans of any sport in the United States and we are delighted to publish novels that will appeal specifically to them," Harlequin CEO Donna Hayes said.

The first title in the NASCAR series, In The Groove, will be published in late January to coincide with February's Daytona 500 race in Florida – one of the biggest on the NASCAR circuit.

A promo tag line on the author's website puts the opening plot point of In the Groove this way: "She wouldn't know a NASCAR star if he hit her with his car – and he just did."

Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation (TSX:TS.nv.b (http://www.cbc.ca/business/stockQuote.jsp?ticker=TS.nv.b)). It publishes 1,300 titles a year. in the most recent quarter, Harlequin contributed $24.6 million of Torstar's $34.4 million operating profit.

Shares of Torstar were off 41 cents at $21.92 on the TSX.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

I assume this means the PGA Tour will be following in other NASCAR footsteps, such as...




'Racy' writing: Harlequin to publish NASCAR-themed titles

Last Updated Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:08:55 EST CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html)


Harlequin Enterprises, best known for its romance fiction titles, is planning to add novels with storylines plucked from the NASCAR stock car racing circuit. A licensing agreement announced Wednesday with NASCAR will see Harlequin publish a variety of NASCAR-branded "women's fiction" titles.

<TABLE cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=0 width=220 align=right hspace="4"><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/harlequin_titles.jpg </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>Some Harlequin romance fiction titles.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>"The novels, by some of Harlequin's bestselling authors, will have plotlines centering on NASCAR and will bear the NASCAR brand on their covers," the companies said in a joint statement.

NASCAR claims 75 million fans and says 30 million of them are women.

"NASCAR has one of the largest and most loyal bases of female fans of any sport in the United States and we are delighted to publish novels that will appeal specifically to them," Harlequin CEO Donna Hayes said.

The first title in the NASCAR series, In The Groove, will be published in late January to coincide with February's Daytona 500 race in Florida – one of the biggest on the NASCAR circuit.

A promo tag line on the author's website puts the opening plot point of In the Groove this way: "She wouldn't know a NASCAR star if he hit her with his car – and he just did."

Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation (TSX:TS.nv.b (http://www.cbc.ca/business/stockQuote.jsp?ticker=TS.nv.b)). It publishes 1,300 titles a year. in the most recent quarter, Harlequin contributed $24.6 million of Torstar's $34.4 million operating profit.

Shares of Torstar were off 41 cents at $21.92 on the TSX.




Damn! I hope this doesnt affect literotica .com/ ;)

[Young Drachma]

More than the real golf fans are now?

Sorry, I had to leave. So I didn't get to finish my thought.

I don't think any "real golf" fan is gonna watch some guy win his card. Because I know I don't want to see it if there isn't anyone worth watching. I do think Finchem is just trying to draw straws here the best way he knows how, but....I don't know how effective this system will be.

The good question is, can we think of a better idea? I know there has to be something. But what?

[Craptacular]

You guys brought up some good points about the sponsors, and we'll see how much FedEx is shelling out. I guess my main beef is how Finchem can honestly say, and I quote:

"There are a number of benefits strategically to the stronger season. First of all, we think every one of our events is going to be strengthened."

I just can't fathom how that is going to be the case. This system will certainly add prestige and excitement to a number of events, but it cannot possibly strengthen all of them. Whatever tournaments end up in the Quest for an Audience portion of the schedule are going to be weakened. They keep talking about this new points system ... they already have one, no, TWO systems ... the money list and the World Golf Ranking. Those already determine who gets into the biggest events, with the big paydays. Guys like Tiger are not going to increase the number of events they play in just to get points ... you know they ran this by Tiger and got his approval before making any announcements. This likely WILL increase the number of events that most of the good players compete against each other in (which is good), but it will simply come at the expense of the other 20 tournaments on the schedule, which will all be weakened.

Honestly, I can't argue that I'm not biased, as I think the tournaments like the one in Milwaukee will suffer as a result. Sure, a lot of them don't get too many of the big names now, but this will ensure that they get even less in the future.