Can you name the past four FedEx Cup champions?
And therein lies the problem.
Jim Furyk won three times in 2010 and was the last golfer who passes for a household name to win a prize the PGA Tour wants us to believe is as prestigious as its purse is bountiful.
Tiger Woods won the inaugural $10 million FedEx Cup in 2007, when he was the world No. 1 and the best player in the game, and again in 2009.
It all seemed very legitimate when Woods – or even to some extent Vijay Singh in 2008 – won the Cup. But no world No. 1 has won since.
Indeed, the four past champions combined haven’t won a single major.
After Furyk came Bill Haas and Brandt Snedeker, and last year the wheelbarrow full of dough went to Henrik Stenson.
All were worthy winners – certainly given the parameters of the competition – but among them only Stenson was even a candidate for Player of the Year.
What they have in common is that they all just happened to get hot at the right time.
And so it was with Billy Horschel, who parlayed three hot weeks into $13.5 million, culminating with Sunday’s double dip, winning the Tour Championship at East Lake as well as the season-long FedEx Cup.
But Horschel was 69th entering the playoffs.
He had had a disappointing year and after missing the cut at the first playoff event, The Barclays, was thinking about shutting it down and getting ready for next season (which, of course, begins – ludicrously – in a few weeks).
But he played well at the Deutsche Bank in Boston – he should’ve won but fatted his approach into the final hole – and then redeemed himself with wins at the BMW Championship and now at East Lake.
There’s no denying he deserved to win, but Johnny Miller was reaching for the stars when he wondered on Sunday whether we were watching golf’s newest star.
Let’s just say he’ll have to show a lot more consistency.
Yet he’s picked up $13.5 million in three weeks when it took Arnold Palmer 13 years to become golf’s first ever $1 million man.
And before the arguments are rolled out that this is what playoffs are about – that they’re unpredictable – let’s remember that in other sports, the cream generally rises to the top.
The PGA Tour wants the FedEx Cup Playoffs to be big-time, but the format just doesn’t allow it. Resetting points after every playoff event only devalues the points accumulated during the season.
All of this is not to say Rory McIlroy didn’t have the opportunity to legitimize the Cup and cap a magnificent season on Sunday.
He played alongside Horschel but couldn’t deliver. A pulled 5 iron into the water on the par-3 sixth led to a double bogey, and then he made three straight bogeys around the turn that ended his tilt.
But after, McIlroy sent a warning shot across the bow of the Tour’s playoff system.
He was speaking for many of his colleagues – some of whom had played eight of 10 weeks – who want a week off during the playoffs.
“Yeah, I am. I am tired,” Mcilroy said. “I'm looking forward to a few days off and not seeing my golf clubs for a little while, and then when I'm ready and I'm excited to get back out again, get ready for the Ryder Cup.”
The Ryder Cup is the reason, ironically, that there was no break in the playoffs this year.
The PGA of America and European Tour asked for a week off in between the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup, and PGA commissioner Tim Finchem agreed.
Don’t look for him to be so kind again. He might tell them to not schedule the Ryder Cup in Scotland in late September and perhaps find venues that allow for play in October.
But it’s certain that something has to give, if McIlroy is to be believed.
“It's been a long four weeks. You know, if I had to do it all over again, I probably would have taken a week off somewhere in this stretch of tournaments,” he said.
“But, you know, it's tough because these sponsors that are sponsoring the tournaments and the FedExCup Playoffs, they're putting up an awful lot of money to get the best players in the world there to their event.
“Not that you feel obliged, but you want to support the events, and you want to show up and give the sponsors something to be happy about and proud of.
“I've got a great relationship with BMW, and that was probably the only reason why I did play in Denver. But at the same time, if I had to do it again, I probably would have taken a week off just to feel a little fresher coming in here.”
Phil Mickelson has said the same; if enough players start skipping playoff events, the system will change.
And it needs to change.
