PGA Tour To Award FedExCup Points To Fall Series Events; Moving Closer To Oct. '13 Start

The PGA Tour policy board “has decided to award full FedExCup points to the tournaments that come after the season-ending Tour Championship,” according to Doug Ferguson of the AP. The move is “one step in trying to shore up plans for a new season that will start in October 2013 and conclude with the Tour Championship in September 2014." The FedExCup for the past five years has “ended in September with the Tour Championship.” The Fall Series events that followed “only awarded prize money to determine the top 125 players on the money list who kept their full cards.” Still to be decided is “a major part of the puzzle -- determining how players get their cards.” Instead of Q-school, the Tour “already has approved a plan to merge the top 75 players from the Nationwide Tour with PGA Tour players who finish from No. 126-200 on the money list for a three-tournament series.” Fifty full tour cards will be awarded. Tour officials have been “retooling various options, though no consensus has been reached on a model” (AP, 6/26). GOLF WEEK’s Sean Martin wrote the Tour’s decision to award full FedExCup points to Fall Series events was “the correct choice,” as sponsors “weren’t going to spend millions of dollars for second-class status.” The decision was “meant to please” the sponsors. But the move for players “makes things a little more complicated,” as the FedExCup is “now almost a year-round race.” Star players, those with “the liberty to pick where they appear, will only play so many weeks each year.” Martin wrote, “Only time will tell how this change impacts the fields of fall events. But I’ll bet the impact will be difficult to see” (GOLFWEEK.com, 6/26).

LEGENDS OF THE FALL? WRC-TV’s Dan Hellie said the move to start the season in the fall is "obviously to appease the sponsors," but the Tour has "always said they don't want to go head-to-head with football." Hellie: "Now you’re going to start your season when football season starts? I don't think it’s going to create or generate that interest that they're looking for, and I'm not sure that they’re going to have better fields in all these events, which is what they're hoping for.” Golf Channel’s Gary Williams said, “It's a contradiction considering they created the FedExCup to end the season so you didn't bring the curtain down on Phil and Tiger and get them to play a little bit more competitive golf after the last major championship of the year. You're contradicting yourself because you’re going to butt heads with the National Football League into the month of October.” Golf Channel’s Alex Miceli: “It took two or three years to figure out the FedExCup playoffs. This thing can’t take two or three years. It's got to be right the first time” (“Morning Drive,” Golf Channel, 6/27).