"In the first two hours of the final round, six different players were in the projected No. 125 slot, the position needed to keep a full card for next year."

Steve Elling on the incredible scenarios that played out this week for the Top 125 bubble boys, including Martin Laird, Shane Bertsch, Jeff Overton and Jason Gore.

Scottish rookie Martin Laird, who began the week at No. 126, eked past Shane Bertsch, who missed the cut after starting the week at No. 124. All the former had to do was make a crucial eight-footer for par on the final hole, knowing full well that he was surely dead in the Disney World swamp water if he didn't.

After the putt dropped, he buried his face in a hand and stared the grass. It was a mix of relief with a smidge of uncertainty, since he thought he had blown it with a three-putt on the 12th and another bogey on the 16th.

"I honestly didn't know," said Laird, who finished in a four-way for 21st. "I still thought it would be close. But I knew if I missed it, I had zero chance." 

“Everybody’s on board and the sponsors are very excited"

Bob Harig confirms the likely FedEx Cup fixes and boy is the fix in.

The highlights: The overall champion will not be determined before the Tour Championship, it will be nearly impossible for a major championship winner not to qualify for the season-ending event featuring 30 players, the overall point distribution will be greatly simplified and field sizes for playoff events will be reduced.

Ahhh yes: win a major and that means smooth sailing through the playoffs. Uh, I'm just wondering if anyone has thought about such a scenario perhaps encouraging said major winner to take a few playoff event weeks off? I know, I know, there I go again wondering about things that could never possibly occur. 

But if you were looking for a one-day, or even a one-tournament shootout for the $10 million top prize? It's not going to happen.

"This year, we made the regular season mean hardly anything," said PGA Tour veteran Steve Flesch, a member of the tour's Players Advisory Council, which met this week at the Children's Miracle Network Classic. "Golf has always been about who has had the best year, not who had the best four weeks.

"We had to make a conscious decision, are we going to make the playoffs for four weeks or who has the best year? I'm happy with the changes they've made. They're letting the regular season [points] carry all the way to the Tour Championship." 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

Meanwhile, Brian Hewitt talks to Zach Johnson and apparently the FedEx Cup Hewitt watched was different than the bore the rest of us tolerated the last two years.

The FedEx Cup debuted in 2007 and was a success due, in large part, to exciting finishes in its four-event Playoff series and the fact that Tiger Woods won the $10 million first prize.

Uh, if it was a success how come they had to revamp it?

The Tour has been said to be trying to find a way to guarantee that the big prize will still be undetermined before the Tour Championship starts. There is also a desire to re-tweak the system so that certain top players make it to the top 30 at the Tour Championship. This year nine players, including Ryder Cup star J.B. Holmes and two-time major winner Padraig Harrington, began the Playoffs in the top 30 but dropped out of the top 30 before the Tour Championship, in part, because of the increased volatility.

Bad playoff play must not go unrewarded!

The other issue the Tour has been wrestling with is a way to give more players a chance at the $10 million first prize when they arrive at East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship.

“Everybody’s on board and the sponsors are very excited,” Johnson said.

I tell you, the excitement is palpable.

“I’m trying to sell [stuff]. So get out of the way.”

Josh Peter reports on John Daly moving into OJ territory. Let's just hope his visits to Las Vegas turn out better than OJ's. 

HSBC Final Round Airing Sunday Night

As exciting as the PGA Tour and Nationwide events were Sunday, that impressive leaderboard at the HSBC event in China was even more attractive until rain delayed Sunday's final round.

Word comes from the Golf Channel has scrambled to work out the details to bring us the final round of the HSBC tonight, Sunday, following the broadcast of the Nationwide Tour Championship with only a 30 minute interruption for the Sprint Postgame. My cable listings are a disaster, but it appears the start will be pretty soon.

And if the leaderboard doesn't excite you, it's worth recording just to hear the weird crowd reactions and fireworks explosions. If only Monty were playing...

Compton Makes The Cut!

Truly one of the more amazing accomplishments the PGA Tour has seen in a long time. Playing in (what I believe) is his second serious event since his second transplant, Erik Compton makes the cut at the Children's Miracle Network event in advance of next week's second round of Q-school. Steve Elling writes:

Making a series of clutch putts down the stretch, Compton shot a 4-under 68 in the second round and made the 36-hole cut by two shots, moving into a tie for 51st, 10 shots behind leader Scott Verplank.

Verplank plays with an insulin pump on his belt, but that's kid stuff compared with the increasingly impressive Compton resume.

"It's amazing," said Spain's Alejandro Canizares, who was paired with Compton the first two days and finished 1 over to miss the cut. "It takes a lot of courage. Hopefully he plays a little better on the weekend and gets lucky." 

"Starting in April 2009, precise limits will be set on how porous a competition ball's cover stock can be"

And you thought the USGA had done something...keep dreaming.

Reader Scott passed along this Wired.com piece by Chris Hardwick looking at the impact technology has had on bowling. The sport has never been easier to play but it doesn't seem to be translating to a healthy game. So they are turning back the clock just a bit for competition but altering ball specs.

It turns out that the sport's governing body, the United States Bowling Congress, is just as worried as I am. In Greendale, Wisconsin, at a climate-controlled facility that was almost certainly well-stocked with funnel cakes, the USBC deployed a 7-foot-tall robot named Harry. Armed with laser guides, hydraulics, and a mechanical arm, Harry's job was to bowl with the precision of a machine. As an engineer controlled release points, axis tilt, speed, and rotation, 23 sensors along the lane measured things like position and velocity. The goal, according to the USBC, was "to strike a better balance between player skill and technology." I am pretty sure the "strike" pun was intended.

The results, released earlier this year, were undeniable: Bowling ball composition had to be reined in. Starting in April 2009, precise limits will be set on how porous a competition ball's cover stock can be, standardizing how it adheres to the lane. Technology will be hobbled for the sake of the game.

As a purist of the sport, I'm grateful for the change. We should have to earn our marks the way our daddies (or, at least, mine) did: with hard rubber balls on wood, a hot lamp over the scoring table burning our hands and faces, and watered-down American beer lubricating each frame until we go home smelling like an ashtray in a chemical plant. "Keep yer got-damn science off mah balls!" we'll cry, and life will be good and pure and true.

Another Serial Hole-In-Onester

Thanks to reader Michael for this story on central Illinois Curt Hocker. We know how well the last one hole-in-one specialist story turned out.

Curt Hocker is on a roll. Five rolls, to be exact. Just ask anyone at the El Paso Golf Club, where the 22-year-old has recorded five holes-in-one in the last week, including two on Saturday. In this year alone, Hocker has seven aces, five on par-4s, and two other double eagles.

"They kind of jammed it down our throats"

John Hawkins gives us a few more details on the FedEx Cup fix, and while we're back to just one points reset compared to what was reported yesterday, it's still not even close to the change any fan could ask for. It remains unimaginative and devoid of any personality. But at least they really fleshed out the ideas with the players:

When the 16-man Player Advisory Council gathered on a teleconference Tuesday to discuss changes in the format, it quickly realized the tour, as is often the case, already had determined a plan of action and wouldn't be holding a forum to solicit new ideas, which many of these guys definitely have.

"They kind of jammed it down our throats," said one veteran. Added Tom Pernice Jr., who has served on both the PAC and PGA Tour Policy Board: "It sounded like Tim [commissioner Finchem] and his staff had decided which direction they're going to go." When I relayed Pernice's thoughts to Joe Ogilvie, a board member whom many players consider their strongest voice of reason, he replied, "I would say Tom is pretty accurate on that."

Just one big happy family.

Time for some common sense. "Say what you want about Donald Trump, but he had 20 million people watching 'The Apprentice' and the winner was given a $175,000 job for one year," Ogilvie says. "We've got 2.2 million people watching and the winner gets $10 million. We've got to turn this thing into an event. The golf tournament would still be the focus, but we're almost too traditionalistic in the way we go about things."

I think that's a nice way of saying unimaginative.

Anyway, here's the "fix":

The tour's '09 proposal, if you still care, is to move the regular-season realignment back three weeks, meaning the adjustment of point totals would occur before the start of the Tour Championship.

Hawkins concludes:

Otherwise, what was conceived two years ago as the tour's big-bang finish will remain a hamburger on a bun in a steakhouse where the shrimp cocktail costs $80. No mustard, no ketchup, no cause for excitement, no reason to put off mowing the lawn until after Woods finishes birdie-birdie-birdie to beat Mr. Underdog, 1 up. Call it what you want, but until someone grabs the dynamite, or even a handful of firecrackers, the playoff series can't be described as anything more than a proverbial work in progress. 

"The restructuring was all one-sided"

Bill Huffman reveals that the Thunderbirds have been doing some serious renegotiation to keep FBR as sponsor of the Phoenix tour event.

Two different sources close to the Thunderbirds told me a new deal was recently brokered between FBR and the Thunderbirds that reduces FBR's overall financial commitment to the tournament "by millions." And the restructuring was all one-sided, with FBR telling the Thunderbirds it would walk if they didn't accept the terms.

According to those sources, FBR is going to keep its commitment to the tournament on several fronts. It will be the title sponsor and pick up TV costs, but it has reduced its charitable contributions significantly. And, as previously reported by the Tribune, FBR also will cut back on its entertainment commitment, which means the corporate hospitality, the pro-am and Tuesday night dinner.

Telegraph: "Scientists find secret of perfect golf swing"

Take that, golf magazines!

Reader Michael passed along Caroline Gammell's Telegraph exclusive on the news we've all been waiting for: scientists discovering the perfect golf swing secret.

The key is knowing at exactly what stage of the swing you should exert the maximum force, according to research.

Hmmm...that's helpful.

Using a complex mathematical equation, Professor Robin Sharp from the Department of Mechanical, Medical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Surrey, has calculated which parts of the upper body should be used at what stage.

Breaking with conventional thinking, his study suggests that the wrists are not as important as the way a golfer uses their arms.

His research also concludes that height is not as advantageous as previously thought, with short people able to hit a ball almost as far as their taller competitors if they use the right technique.

Verne Troyer will be relieved.

Prof Sharp studied three professional golfers from the 1968 Ryder Cup - Bernard Hunt, Geoffrey Hunt and Guy Wolstenholme - whose swing action was photographed on a high speed camera.

Guess footage of Dai Rees wasn't available. Boy and that was a great Ryder Cup team. Too bad they didn't play one in '68 or that Wolstenholme never played in a Ryder Cup!

USGA Locks Up Holtgrieve For 2011 Walker Cup, Rendering Buddy Marucci A Lame Duck

Ron Balicki reports that the blue coats got their man for 2011, even though they still have the '09 Walker Cup to play. Maybe Jim Holtgrieve was eyed for an Obama cabinet post and they had to pin him down? Either way, he's going to consult everyone's new favorite captain, Paul Azinger.

“I’m definitely going to tap into the knowledge and experience of past (Walker Cup) captains and even try to talk with Paul Azinger at some point,” said Holtgrieve, who was named Nov. 3 by the U.S. Golf Association to serve as America’s captain for the ’11 Walker Cup. “I want their input on what to look for, what to expect and just how they approached things in general.”

And David Fay on the timing:

"We talked about it and everyone was very committed (to selecting Holtgrieve),” Fay said. “When we made the decision that he was our choice, we saw no reason not to put it out (to the public). I mean, it’s no state secret. He was our man, so why wait?”

If we could only get them to decide on the results of that ball study with such vision!

"I think it's bad for the sport that so many print people are no longer covering it."

Neil Sagebiel at the Armchair Golf blog interviews ESPN.com's Bob Harig about a variety of issues including the impact of fewer newspaper reporters covering golf:

ARMCHAIR GOLF: One of the latest casualties in the golf writing ranks was Thomas Bonk of the L.A. Times. Where do you see this thing heading as a golf writer?

BOB HARIG: It's bleak right now. I think it's bad for the sport that so many print people are no longer covering it. Newspapers still have tremendous reach and they have all decided that they don't need to cover golf. Their attitude is people can get the information elsewhere. Well then, you're telling them to go elsewhere – or forcing them to. If you don't cover it with your own guy, human nature says that you're going to give it less attention. So there is a medium that's not getting covered. I don't think it's good for the sport at all. I think they want as many voices and as many publications covering them as possible. You also have probably the most popular athlete in any sport and they choose to ignore it except for getting by with the bare minimum. 

PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Fix Looks To Make BCS, Chase Look Positively Brilliant

Rex Hoggard reports that the PGA Tour has come up with its FedEx Cup fix and as you might imagine, it's pitiful on a level that even a conoisseur of unimaginative Tour initiatives finds astonishing.

Most agreed the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup needed fixing after the second edition of the circuit’s playoffs produced another anticlimactic finish and a Tour Championship without the likes of Padraig Harrington. At the Children’s Miracle Network Classic, players got a glimpse at the Tour’s possible solution.

Well, actually many said it needed fixing after year one and a few others noted that it was broken before the even started. Nonetheless, there is some good news. The playoffs will start at the top 125 instead of the top 144, which only about 400 writers suggested never made sense. Hoggard says points will be "recalibrated" just like in previous years.

Now remember the Harrington reference by Hoggard. It's driving this madness.

The top 90 after the playoff opener would advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship, down from 120, followed by the top 60, down from 70, earning spots at the BMW Championship.

The top 30 points earners will advance to the Tour Championship, and the points will be reset to assure that all 30 players have a mathematical chance to win the season-long race.

“It’s a nice medium between what we had in 2007 and 2008,” said Zach Johnson, one of four player directors on the Policy Board.

Oh yes, it's medium.

So you read that right. They are proposing not one, but two points resets! You know, because fans have been clamoring for even more number-crunching and countless explanations from Dan Hicks. Oh and more graphics too!

While the plan seems to be a work in progress, many PAC members didn’t expect much to change before the final version is submitted to the Policy Board.

“It seems like (the Tour) always comes to us with ‘X’ and we talk about it and suggest ‘Y,’ but they never really consider ‘Y,’” said one longtime PAC member who requested he not be identified.

A head-to-head, winner-take-all shootout, possibly a match-play event between the top players after the Tour Championship, had been suggested but was not part of the Tour’s proposal.

“That really doesn’t work, because TV and the sponsors don’t want to see Brett Quigley playing Omar Uresti for the championship,’’ Quigley said. “You just never know with match play. They want the top players.”

First of all, the winner-take-all concepts as proposed by yours truly, or the more recent idea picking up steam, never called for match play.  Instead, it has been suggested ad nauseum that a final day with 4 or 8 players teeing it up with $10 million on the line might attract just a bit of attention. So if the final day group is determined by the final FedEx Cup points tally, the chances of a Quigley-Uresti showdown is pretty slim, but let's say that happens and there is $10 million on the line. Who cares? They are playing for $10 million!

Yet here we are in year three and the PGA Tour brass is tacking on more complicated points permuations and getting even further away from a true playoff. Can someone please tell me how all of these free-marketeering, independent contracting, survival-of-the-fittest Darwinists, macho lovers of democratic competition, can be so terrified of a true playoff?

I know, I know, so we can get the stars like Harrington to East Lake, even if he misses two cuts. Brilliant.

"Anywhere between 0.2 and 0.3"

Since Thomas Bonk's Monday golf column was eliminated as part of the L.A. Times' hunt for irrelevance, we no longer get the weekend television ratings. Of course, Golf Channel's are almost never reported, even by Bonk, but Doug Ferguson managed to slip in this number in a story on the Fall Series:

Really, there should be no surprises in the Fall Series because the players who might be expected to win aren’t playing. Of the seven multiple winners on tour this year, none has teed it up in America since the Tour Championship.

That doesn’t mean the Fall Series is a waste of time—certainly not to those scrambling to keep their jobs.

Sure, television ratings are abysmal (anywhere between 0.2 and 0.3), which is to be expected during football season. Then again, they weren’t that much better a few years ago when these tournaments were the final stops on the way to the Tour Championship.