FedEx Cup Playoffs, PGA Tour Player of the Year

Should a player who has a major championship to his credit in 2009 win the FedEx Cup does he deserve consideration for PGA Tour Player of the Year, even if the world's most recognizable athlete has won five tournaments during the current season?

Undoubtedly yes. Although that scenario is unlikely, and the favorite to win the FedEx Cup can squash any and all debate by taking care of business as he's done at Bay Hill, Congressional, Muirfield Village, Warwick Hills and Firestone CC. 

On Thursday the third edition of the PGA Tour's playoff experiment begins in the shadows of Manhattan at Liberty National Golf Club, a relatively new layout whose 18th hole is a mere 1,000 yards from the Statue of Liberty.

This year's FedEx Cup Playoffs will feature a new point system designed to reward postseason winners with five times as many points as those players who captured regular season championships. (In 2009 regular season winners were awarded 500 points per victory. Playoff winners will earn 2,500.) While points were reset prior to the playoffs in the past two years, regular season standings will carry over until the Tour Championship just outside of Atlanta.

Whether or not the updated point system will produce more drama remains to be seen, and it's just one of the questions that can and will be asked before the action begins Thursday.

"It's hard to really know a whole lot about it because every year the points have changed dramatically," said Justin Leonard at the Deutsche Bank Championship media conference. "The first year there was not enough movement. Last year there was too much. So I think they're trying to find the balance.

"It's hard really to comment on it until we get through the playoffs and see how it affects all the players. The fact that they're not resetting any points until the week of the Tour Championship will make a big impact. I know that the points are certainly more valuable in the playoffs. So it kind of remains to be seen how things will shake out. But hopefully we're getting closer to a permanent system because it changed dramatically all three years."

Considering that Tiger Woods has already committed to play in The Barclays and that there will be a what amounts to a bye prior to the Tour Championship, people will be watching. Well at least when they're not watching football.

Woods will obviously be the clear-cut favorite to capture his second FedEx Cup, but the year's four major champions also have a chance to stake a claim to 2009 PGA Tour Player of the Year. Vijay Singh will be defending his championship and is one of many players who has an opportunity to salvage a relatively disappointing year. Another darkhorse could emerge a become the next unexpected champion in a year that has been regularly unpredictable.

If Angel Cabrera, Stewart Cink, Lucas Glover or Y.E. Yang happens to win the FedEx Cup, they would deserve equal consideration along with Woods for player of the year. While the FedEx Cup is quite artificial and contived, there is a certain cumulative aspect to it that warrants the winner be recognized as one of the top golfers of 2009. And because the world's No. 1 golfer hasn't captured a major championship since his triumph at Torrey Pines in 2008, this year's postseason has even more meaning.

There isn't a great deal of history behind professional golf's playoffs but I'm almost positive that 2009 should produce a much better postseason than in years past.

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