GOLF: So might the Tour eventually go back to a schedule that resembles the way it used to be in 2006 and before?
SF: Instead of having a Fall Series, you push the final of the Tour season back to where it was. The Tour Championship always was and should be the final tournament of the year. Take four of these Fall Series events, put 'em after the PGA Championship and give them point values for the FedEx, and then have the FedEx Cup be the finale. Instead of having all that play out right after the PGA, and having the Fall Series be just about money.
GOLF: But then you're back to the season ending in October or early November.
SF: I think if you don't see Tiger or Phil for a couple weeks after the PGA, you let football start and run its course for a couple weeks. God help me I'm a Bengals fan, living in Cincinnati, and I'm jacked up to watch 'em play the first couple weeks. But when they're 0-3 and 0-4 I'm back to watching golf in October or early November. So August, September, you let the hype of pro and college football die down. That's our big problem and I don't know why we battle that.
GOLF: Wouldn't Tiger and Phil have a problem if the Tour Championship were moved back where it was?
SF: They're playing overseas then anyway. The Australian players are going to go home and play in the tournaments there. Guys are not going to take three months off; we're used to traveling and playing golf. It's what we do for a living.
GOLF: How would you fix the fact that the Tour Championship keeps being a moot point? How hard is it to make it a match play or a winner-take-all? I mean, you can make it up!
SF: I think the guys agree that the $10 million payout should not be decided on one round of golf when you've played the whole year to gain your ranking in the FedEx Cup race. We don't think one round of golf should decide $10 million. Now, if it's between six guys ... we're trying to find the balance of maintaining the integrity of rewarding a great year.
GOLF: But nine innings decided the American League Championship. Why is everyone so concerned about rewarding the entire year? Isn't that what the money list is for? The Vardon Trophy rewards the best year, the trophies on your mantle, the Player of the Year. People are trying to make the FedEx Cup do too much.
SF: I'm not disagreeing with you. I think the terminology of it being a playoff in golf is what players are having a hard time grasping, and the public is having hard time grasping. It's not a team sport; everyone is trying to protect his own interest.
GOLF: What is the objective? What is the FedEx Cup supposed to do? Because after two years of this, I still don't know.
SF: I think the FedEx Cup ideally is trying to identify the best player during the playoff format, which any playoff does. The team that plays the best should win. If you look at the first two years, that's what happened: Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh were the best players. Now did we arrive at those winners in the best way? I don't think we have, and I don't think the Tour would disagree with me. We had not enough volatility in the first year, and too much in the second. We're trying to make it more equitable for the players.
