The final event of the FedEx Cup gets started Thursday and by most accounts, it's been one of the most exciting. In Canada, the BMW Championship outdrew any NFL games on the opening weekend of U.S. football (it still came second to the CFL). The fact that many of the big names in the game have performed well hasn't hurt.
But it's still not perfect, still not quite as engaging as it could be and still doesn't finish on a high note.
The problems:
** The last event doesn't provide as much excitement as it should. There are five players who can win the event if they win this week and 25 who need help. That just seems weird.
** There are players, i.e. Louis Oosthuizen who can win the FedEx Cup without winning this week or a tournament on the PGA Tour all year.
** Players (Sergio, Dufner) can skip events. There aren't any other sports that allow you to skip a round of the playoffs.
** This week's finale seems to be taking a back seat in attention to next week's Ryder Cup.
** The point system is too complicated.
** It still seems somewhat like a money grab.
The solutions:
** The best solution I've heard for the final round is to have a cut after each round. Start with 30 players, cut to 20 after Thursday, 10 after Friday and the final round has just 5 players, all shooting for the $10 million. Or, alternatively, go to just four players on the final day and play two rounds of match play.
** Make participation in all four events mandatory to win the overall title.
** Make the point system easier for the average guy to understand.
There's not much you can do about the schedule or making it less commercial. Those Tim Finchem will have to live with. But there is still a lot of room for improvement, in spite of the progress made.