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Phil Mickelson, FedEx Cup Expand
Morry Gash/AP

Phil Mickelson didn't win a major for the first time in three years.

FedEx Cup Confidential

On the condition of anonymity, a PGA Tour player blasts the FedEx Cup, has some advice for Rory Sabbatini, a take on Phil, I.D.'s a few playoff dark horses — and declares that, anyway, the fix is in for you know who

Published: August 21, 2007

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HERE'S WHAT I REALLY THINK
There are so many things wrong with the FedEx Cup playoffs that I don't know where to start, but here are my top five.

1. Where's the buzz? The only time I hear guys in the locker room talking about the playoffs is to rip them. It's one thing that John Q. Public doesn't know much about the FedEx Cup or how it works. It's another that not very many players do, either.

2. We're not playing for real money. First prize is $10 million that you can't access until you're 45, so if you win, I guess you get a big cardboard check you can't cash for 20 years. Phil Mickelson was complaining about that at the PGA, and most of us agree. Say I win the $10 million. I'd want to give my caddie his 10% cut, except how do I pay him when I don't get any money? It's like giving a five-year-old a Cadillac for his birthday and telling him, "Sorry, you can't drive it until you're 18." The whole premise of this thing was to make the end of the season more exciting, but if you want to do that, you have to dangle a real prize in front of us.

3. The FedEx Cup was modeled on NASCAR's Nextel Cup. The only people who care about the Nextel Cup are NASCAR fans. The only people who are going to care about the FedEx Cup are golf fans. The playoffs are not going to generate a bigger audience for golf. In fact, the playoffs are so confusing they might turn off some fans.

4. Golf has always been about how many wins you have and how much money you've made. Now we have a points list that gets reset in August. When the FedEx Cup points are reset, Tiger's big lead will be erased, diminishing his year. If the idea is to identify the player who has had the best season, how does wiping out his lead accomplish that? What if the Yankees had a 10-game lead going into September and baseball cut it to two simply to make the pennant race more exciting?

5. And what happens at the Tour Championship, the final event, if Woody Austin and Nick Watney are tied for the tournament lead and the FedEx Cup comes down to Phil and Tiger, who are tied for 25th, but whoever finishes higher is going to be the FedEx Cup champ? Who does NBC show on TV? I think I know the answer.

WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR
I don't know what to think about Phil Mickelson. He won the Players, which was a bit of a surprise, but it's been downhill ever since. He hurt his wrist at Oakmont and maybe came back too soon. I like Phil's chances in '08 but don't know if he'll put everything together in time to finish strong in '07.

OUT OF THE PICTURE
What a brilliant move by the Tour, hooking up with Golf Channel for 15 years. I've been on the road for the last six weeks, and for four of them have stayed in hotels that didn't carry Golf Channel.

Now that ESPN doesn't show golf, it seems as if there's a lot less time devoted to Tour highlights on SportsCenter. Don't blink, you might miss them.