The PGA Tour Season Could End with a Whimper at East Lake |
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Like all professional sports, golf has its "big market" franchises. Matt Kuchar and retro Hulkamaniac Charley Hoffman they are not. Ranked No. 1 and No. 3 respectively in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship this weekend at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club, Kuchar and Hoffman present Tim Finchem and company with the grusome scenario of having to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals play in golf's misguided attempt at the World Series. What else should you be watching for in the last leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs? We give you five nuggets of information to ponder. 1. Big Names are Missing Tiger Woods season really ended when he rammed that tree in Isleworth with his black Cadillac SUV, but it officially ended two weeks ago at Cog Hill. Woods is just one of the game's marquee players who will miss out on the Tour Championship. Wunderkinds Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and the always brash Ian Poulter won't be at East Lake. Actually, a made-for-TV match up with Poulter/McIlroy vs. Woods/Fowler would probably double the ratings for Sunday's final round. 2. Paul Casey vs. Colin Montgomerie Captain Monty left a very deserving Paul Casey off the European Ryder Cup team in a potentially disastrous moment of "I'll show you hubris." Casey built his schedule around the PGA Tour instead of the lesser European Tour, but golf incessantly hammers home the point that it's a global game. Monty's reluctance to do what makes sense mirrors Andy Reid's decision to start Kevin Kolb over Michael Vick this week at quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. What an opening salvo it would be for the Americans if Casey (No. 4 in the FedEx Cup standings and No. 7 in the world) could win this weekend, and then have to sit out the Ryder Cup. 3. Can Dustin Johnson Close? I have to question people who claim that this year hasn't been an exciting one for golf. The sport's most famous person is caught in the scandal of the young century and you're upset because some guy you've never heard of from South Africa won the Open Championship? Appreciate what you have. On the course the year has belonged to Dustin Johnson, who melted like the witch in the Wizard of Oz at the U.S. Open and suffered a depressing demise at Whistling Straits. Johnson was able to rebound at the BMW Championship, and stands poised to take home the FedEx Cup and Player of the Year honors with another win this weekend. 4. Phil's Folly Oh what a year it could have been for old Lefty. Phil Mickelson executed one of the more visually miraculous shots in the history of golf by clipping his ball off of the pine straw and up between two wooden goal posts at Augusta National, and then held tough down the stretch to win his 3rd Masters. After that it's been all downhill. He revealed that he suffers from some strange type of arthritis even doctors haven't heard about and has failed to overtake Tiger as No. 1 in the world even though he's had every chance. Can Mickelson salvage a disappointing season in Atlanta?
5. Take that Lipstick off the Pig |
