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Hot
1. Tiger Woods. Ho-hum, another 63, another victory — incredibly, the 60th of his career. Maybe next year he can win the FedEx Cup playing in only two events. Wouldn't Finchem love that?
2. The whole Tiger-Phil thing. The game's two biggest stars are first and third in the points standings, and they'll be duking it out for the Cup title this weekend. What more could the Tour ask for?
3. Steve Stricker. The Cinderella story continues as everybody's favorite cheesehead has another high finish to stay in the running for the Cup. For a guy who made only $150,590 as recently as 2003, $10 million would actually mean something.
4. Stewart Cink. With a closing 65 at Cog Hill, he surged into the top 30 and punched his ticket to East Lake, which happens to be one of his home courses. If you're looking for a sleeper pick to win this week, Cink's your guy.
5. Camilo Villegas. It had been a so-so year for the supposed phenom, but inspired play over the last three weeks has lifted him to the Tour Championship. Hopefully he can carry the mojo into '08 and begin justifying all the hype.
Not
1. The FedEx Cup points distribution. My biggest beef in this whole thing is how hard it is to move up the list. After a hard-fought week in Chicago, only three players tumbled out of the top 30. More volatility in the points list would make for a lot more excitement.
2. East Lake. I've always thought it was a pretty boring track, and now its miserable greens are going to be one of the biggest stories of the week. I'll say it again: it's 74 degrees here in California.
3. The 25 guys in the Tour Championship field who can't win the FedEx Cup. Yeah, they're playing for some nice Porsche money, but it has to be a useless feeling.
4. Adam Scott. Forget his inability to win the big one — he's now been displaced as top Aussie, as Aaron Baddeley passed him on the money list after a strong week in Chicago. It feels kinda old-fashioned, talking about the money list.
5. The Presidents Cup. It's only a couple of weeks away, not that anyone has noticed, given the Tour's relentless promotion of that other Cup.
