Let's be honest here: The majors will remain the most popular events.

Why? They've got the history and the best fields. Players will still want to win them more than anything else in which they play and such a passion will shine through and make for better TV drama.

Finchem knows that. All he is trying to do is sprinkle a little bit of that onto the latter half of the schedule to provide the TV folks something to consider when it comes time to discuss how much the pact would be worth. In theory, Finchem is counting on names such as Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Charles Howell, Stuart Appleby, Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk, David Toms, Davis Love, Padraig Harrington being high on the list of the FedEx Cup and to keep their names there, they would play as much as four weeks in a row and when you throw in the PGA Championship, TV viewers would have them on their screens five times in six weeks.

It will come at a time of year when golf usually loses steam with TV audiences, when baseball heats up and football starts up. Only instead of providing a bunch of post-PGA Championship tournaments that are there to fill the void until the Tour Championship arrives in early November, that late-summer space will be filled with tournaments featuring the brightest names playing in the biggest markets in front of large crowds, which is a pretty attractive combination.

Sure, it may not quite work that way. But what if it does? What if Finchem pulls this off? Even Woods indicated that he'd gear his schedule for such a five-events-in-six-week stretch and Garcia and Scott were among those who said they'd do it, too. After all, with millions of dollars made, their position on the FedEx Cup list secured, and the remaining tournaments of little importance to them, players would in mid-September be in possession of something they've talked openly about: The chance to have an offseason.

"You still have the option of playing [after the Tour Championship], if you feel like you want to get some more work in," said Woods. "But knowing that you have an offseason for the first time ..."

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His smile indicated that he liked that thought, which is different than the current landscape. With the Tour Championship being played this week, many of the players view the offseason as seven weeks, some of which is filled with obligations to "silly season" stuff and international travel. Much more attractive to them is three-and-a-half months of an offseason, which Finchem's plan allows for.

Heck, some of them will need that much time to count the money they could realize from the FedEx Cup.

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