Capelle On Golf

Dodger Manager Joe Torre knows a thing or two about playoffs, having guided the Yankees to three World Titles. In the latest series of commercials that are aimed at brainwashing us on the importance of the FedExCup, he talks excitedly about golf’s playoffs. But for some reason, the adds don’t ring true.

Perhaps it’s because we’ve been conditioned to thinking that playoffs are contests between two teams – one wins and advances – the other loses and calls it a season.

It golf’s version, there are no head to head confrontations. Instead, 144 “teams” are reduced to 120, then 70, and 30 for the championship, not two as in traditional sports with real playoffs. In the finals of real playoffs, both teams have a chance to win. In the FedExCup there are 30 “teams” in the finals, but only a dozen or so this year will have a mathematical chance at winning. The rest of the field will be playing for checks.

Despite its odd title, this four week event is growing on me, I guess because great golf played by super strong fields is always worthy of one’s attention. But the PGA Tour needs to call it something different because playoffs invites too many comparisons with sports that have already defined the term. Perhaps eliminations would be better – it is far more descriptive of the actual proceedings. The word has a certain finality to it, which I think is at the heart of the first three weeks of play.

During the first three weeks players jockey for position while trying to stave off elimination from the playoffs. Since it would take a computer program and far more patience than I have for figuring the millions of permutations, I’m going to keep this as simple as possible.

The cut this week will lop off those ranked 71-120 on late Monday afternoon. Only 1,000 points separate Jeff Quinney (#50 – 97,000) and Eric Axley (#72 – 96,060). Considering how many points are at stake, there’s not much security for those with a 1,000 point cushion, or less. And those in the bottom 50 have an excellent chance to surviving.

Some of the name players in need of a good showing this week include: Ernie Els (52), Woody Austin (59), Camilo Villegas (68), Aaron Baddeley (73), Retief Goosen (82), Rocco Mediate (86), Ian Poulter (89), and Angel Cabrera (93). It will be fun to keep an eye on these players to see if they can stave of elimination!