Capelle On Golf

Ex-Yankee great Yogi Berra once said that, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Well, technically speaking he’s right - the FedExCup is still not over. Points leader Vijay Singh still has to show up at the Tour Championship, play four rounds, and sign his card. I expect that a man good enough to win 34 tour titles can manage that. Still, he’s got to avoid breaking a leg or incurring some disabling injury for the next 20 days or else he could lose the cup and $7 million in bonus money, the difference between first and second.

If Singh is smart he’ll stay home, avoid sharp objects, spend as much time on the couch as possible, and avoid hitting a 1,000 balls day, which is his typical routine.
But even if he shows up with his left wrist in a cast, he could still swat the ball around one handed, shoot 500 for four rounds, and still win the Cup.

The reason the PGA Tour’s season long pet project came to this is that their braintrust is just guessing at the winning formula. So far they are they are 0 for 2 in delivering an exciting climax to the much ballyhooed Cup.

Last year the point system wasn’t volatile enough, so players back in the pack had almost no chance at winning the Cup. This year some claim it is too volatile.

Whatever – last year as I remember only six players had a mathematical chance of winning the Cup, though most concede that Tiger Woods’ huge lead going into the Tour Championship was almost insurmountable. This year only Singh can win as long as he finishes 72 holes.

Before the tour messes with the points again, I would like to propose a change. Keep the points as they are through three rounds. Then convert the points into strokes for the Tour Championship. Handicapping the field is a method that amateurs can relate to, and it would give all 30 players a chance at winning in the grand finale.

My plan calls for converting each 1,000 points into a half stroke. The table below shows the top 10 and the 20th and 30th ranked players would be handicapped for this year’s final event.

Proposed FedExCup Handicapping System
+0.0000 1 Vijay Singh      
+5.3005 2 Camilo Villegas
+5.8755 3 Sergio Garcia
+6.7605 4 Jim Furyk
+6.7915 5 Mike Weir
+6.8660 6 Anthony Kim
+7.2565 7 Justin Leonard
+7.8915 8 K.J. Choi
+7.9750 9 Phil Mickelson
+8.2245 10 Ben Curtis
+9.0630 20 Stuart Appleby
+9.9195 30 Chad Campbell

Vijay Singh’s handicap would be zero. Camilo Villegas is a +5.3005. This means that he would have to beat Singh by six shots or more to have a shot at winning the cup.

Now let’s say that Singh and Villegas finished far back in the Tour Championship, and that Garcia and Leonard are fighting it out at the end. Leonard shoots a 280, which is adjusted to 287.2565 (280 + his handicap). Garcia would have to shoot a 281 to beat him as his adjusted score would be 286.8755.

Even Chad Campbell, #30, would have a shot a mathematical shot at winning. Suppose he played the tournament of his life and blew away the field by six shots, and he beat Singh by 10 strokes. He would be the FedExCup champion.

There have been 10 playoffs on tour this year, which shows that every shot is crucial. With my system, the points leader would be in the pole position, but he wouldn’t have this think locked up. And those who qualify dead last would still have a shot at winning.

My system may not be perfect, but it’s about 1,000% better than the current one. Which is why the PGA Tour will not adopt it or something like it. But whatever they do, let’s hope that the third time is a charm – otherwise Tim Finchem’s legacy will be that he was the creator of the short lived and ill-fated FedExCup, better known as Finchem’s Folly