The PGA Tour finally got exactly what it had been hoping for all along from the FedEx Cup last year.
Jim Furyk claimed the title in the season-long points race, and the $10 million bonus, when he captured the Tour Championship on the final putt at East Lake in Atlanta, edging out Matt Kuchar for the Cup.
That came after Tiger Woods, in 2007 and 2009, and Vijay Singh, in 2008, sucked much of the drama out of the postseason by dominating the PGA Tour playoffs.
This season, it's even more wide open heading to the finale.
Any player in the top five in the point standings who wins the Tour Championship is guaranteed to take home the FedEx title.
In order, those five are Webb Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Kuchar.
Should none of them win, lurking not far behind are Brandt Snedeker, Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Jason Day, among others, who also are capable of pulling it off.
Don't forget that Furyk entered the week outside the magic top five, at No. 11, before claiming his double victory a year ago.
Much of the talk this season has been about the young guns, with 26-year-old Charl Schwartzel of South Africa winning the Masters, 22-year-old Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland capturing the US Open and 25-year-old rookie Keegan Bradley claiming the PGA Championship.
However, 42-year-old Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland took the Open Championship and 41-year-old K.J. Choi won the Players Championship in a playoff over 44-year-old David Toms, so the old guard is not going away quietly.
There probably has never been so much depth, young and old, on the PGA Tour, and in global golf, for that matter.
Woods, Singh, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen comprised what they were calling the Fab Five several years ago, but in the next few years we might see something like that . . . on steroids.
"There are a good 20 guys, which is probably more than there was before when they always talked about the big five, and there are 10 or so very good golfers and another 10 or so who are really good," said Nick Faldo, the six-time major champion and CBS commentator, recently.
"Out of that (bottom group of 20), there's another 10 who can really win as well. (In total) there are about 40 guys who have a chance to win most of the time.
"And they're pretty colorful. Actually, we've got some good characters. . . . "I think it's a really good time. The Tour is actually pretty interesting."
There is another race that will be decided this week in Atlanta.
When Furyk won at East Lake last year, it was his third victory of the year on the circuit, and it virtually locked up the PGA Tour Player of the Year award.
The buzz heading to the finale is that Bradley is the leading candidate to be Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year.
Bradley is one of six players on the circuit with two victories this season, the others being Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, Mark Wilson, Stricker and Watney.
The kid is the only one with a major title.
"You know, I think every player wants to win Player of the Year," said Bradley. "It would be amazing to me.
"Getting to the Tour Championship was a goal of mine at the start of the year, and . . . contending for the FedEx Cup, and then I guess Player of the Year, too, which is almost weird saying it."
Bradley, a 2008 graduate of St. John's University in New York, has only three other finishes in the top 10 this season, but one of them was a playoff victory over Ryan Palmer in the HP Byron Nelson Championship at the end of May.
And he seems to have the vote of one very influential player.
"(Bradley has) had arguably the best year for any US player," said Mickelson, who has been lobbying Fred Couples to make Bradley a captain's pick for the Presidents Cup. "I think he needs to be a pick if he doesn't get on it on his own.
"I think that Keegan has had a great year and has only been able to get points for this season and not last season. I think he deserves it for his play already."
With Couples and captain Greg Norman set to announce their two captain's picks on Sept. 27, this week is the last chance for those who finished outside the 10 automatic qualifiers to make their case.
All of this coming to a head on Sunday in Atlanta at the Tour Championship certainly won't knock the NFL off the front page, but it might give the PGA Tour a little corner of the news to call its own.
Exactly what commissioner Tim Finchem had in mind four years ago.
