Then you have the tournament within the tournament, the race to make the field at next week's BMW, which will be trimmed to only 70 players. Number 115 Brett Quigley said he's been getting calls from friends telling him he has to finish third or better in Boston to stay eligible for Chicago.
If you think nobody's learning the FedEx math, think again.
Here's what fans are talking about: The FedEx Cup, if it's working, if it's not working, where it's succeeding, how it could be improved.
Here's what fans were talking about at this time a year ago: The Ryder Cup.
Now the FedEx is poised for its biggest week ever, starting with the first two rounds Friday and Saturday. You cannot hand-pick a threesome with more potential for great shots and subplots than Mickelson, Singh and Woods.
If any one of them falters, it opens the door for Garcia, Ogilvy or Adam Scott, who is ninth in FedEx points and has a killer record in Boston, having won in 2003 and tied for second in '04.
And don't forget the undercard, the battle between guys like Rich Beem and Quigley and so many others just to keep playing. Those players get grouped together, too, going eye-to-eye with the men they have to beat.
The FedEx Cup is not a major, or as epic as the Ryder Cup, but it never promised to be those things. For now, at least, it's doing as much as could be expected.
The Deutsche Bank could be epic. The BMW may also be quite good. And when the whole thing concludes noisily at East Lake in two weeks, we'll almost certainly see the A-list, not understudies, and a Tour Championship that lives up to its name for the first time in years.
