Capelle On Golf

Wow that was exciting! The good old FedExCup sure delivered again. Not.

Yes, I am happy for Brandt Snedeker, one of golf’s nicest guys.  He finished off the game’s richest event in style with a closing 68 despite a water logged double bogey on the brutal par three sixth hole, and he putted like a demon throughout the week. If he had showed these same closing skills at the British Open, he would have had his first major and a super season.

As for the event itself, it was missing something. Perhaps it is the course. The Tour Championship has been played at East Lake G.C. every year since 2004, a track that has few memorable holes, unlike its cousin 150 miles to the north. I can only remember two holes – the 18th because it is a long par three, and the seventeenth, a long par four with a lake all of the way down the left side of the hole.

How about you? Can you remember the other holes, and in the proper sequence? And is there even one hole that you could, in all honesty, call East Lake’s signature hole? I didn’t think so. To make matters worse, the green complexes and bunkers are boring, and the course is not the least bit photogenic. It’s like they dressed a beautiful girl (the setting) in a sack dress.

Another big problem with East Lake is that they play the event here every year, especially considering that the Masters is held in Georgia as well. This is not at all fair to fans around the country who would like a chance to see the cup. It is also not fair to players who’s games do not fit the course, and it gives an edge to those who’s games are suited to this long slog of a course.

And then there is the format. Despite the attempts of the PGA Tour and the media to explain it, hardly anyone understands the cumbersome point system – one which all but eliminates 25 of 30 participants before the Tour Championship has even begun.

Finally, the problem with the FedExCup is that it is – the FedExCup. An event with the supposed stature of this one should NOT, never, ever, be named for a corporation. If FedEx really wanted to do something special for golf and to build their brand, they would allow it, as part of their deal with the PGA Tour, to be named The Tour Cup, presented by FedEx.

Now that we’ve got one of golf’s most forgettable cups behind us, it is time for its best – the Ryder Cup. It’s got the name, the course, the players, and the history. So enough already with the hype. Let the games begin!