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ATLANTA - Tiger Woods walked wearily across the parking lot in twilight Wednesday, recalling the year he played eight consecutive weeks as he wrapped up his record-setting 2000 season.
“I was wiped out at the end of the year,” he said.
Woods might want to get used to playing long stretches under a new PGA Tour schedule in 2007 that commissioner Tim Finchem said would include the “most impactful series of events in the history of our sport.”
It includes a season-long points race called the FedEx Cup. It features three blockbluster events leading to the Tour Championship, which would end in September, with a payoff that Finchem said likely will be the largest of any playoff system in sports.
About the only thing missing were the details.
Finchem delivered a skeletal sketch of the new season, conceding that he has not figured out where all the pieces fit and how the points race will work. The idea was to make golf look like other sports at the end of the year.
“We’re really the only sport that doesn’t have a stronger finish than our regular season,” he said.
Top players rarely compete in the same tournaments once the major championships end in August. Four of the top five players in the world — Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els — played together in four tournaments before the Masters.
Goosen skipped a World Golf Championship last month, while Mickelson is not at the Tour Championship.
Under the new model, the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone would precede the PGA Championship. One week later would be the start of the Championship Series, in which points accrued since January would be prorated going into three straight tournaments, with the top 30 eligible for the Tour Championship.
“If you want to win the cup series, you’re going to have to play those events,” Woods said. “It’s going to be a lot — six out of seven events at the end of the year, then probably a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. That’s a lot of golf, but after that, you’re pretty much done, which is great.”
It is similar to the Chase for the championship that NASCAR began last year, in which the top 10 drivers of the season compete in the final 10 races for the title.
“We go so far into the football season, and so far into the fall, that we haven’t been able to get the kind of strength we see in other sports,” Finchem said. “We’re the only major sport that doesn’t have a playoff system.”
The first step is taking the model to TV negotiations, expected to begin later this month.
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“We have given a general flavor of the direction we’re going with our television partners,” Finchem said. “They see the possibilities in terms of strengthening our overall product.”
Some players still expressed concerns.
Chris DiMarco noted that Singh, who has missed the last two cuts, might not be eligible for the Tour Championship. Woods also missed the cut the last time he played, two weeks ago at Disney.
Even if a player were to win all four majors, it’s conceivable he would not win the FedEx Cup or even make it to the Tour Championship.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
