Congrats And Enjoy Web.com Tour Grads (For One Week)!

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The worst-conceived sports calendar on the planet wrapped up Sunday with Emiliano Grillo taking the Web.com Tour Championship to earn a PGA Tour card in 2015-16.

Tim Finchem's brainchild of finishing the season in October and starting it again in October, as $upported by his employers (the players), now has a week off. That's before the madness begins at the Frys.com Open, where the newest members of the PGA Tour would be wise to appear, even if they've played something like 11 of the last 13 weeks.

"I've played 11 tournaments in 13 weeks and I'm tired," Tom Gillis said Friday after withdrawing midway through the Web.com Tour Championship. "I want to see my family. I'll be back for the tournament in Jackson (Mississippi)."

Gillis, who lost to Jordan Spieth in the John Deere Classic playoff, did not have to complete the Web.com Tour Championship to ensure his 2015-16 card. Nonetheless, when players are burning out and being asked to turn around and start all over again, or pulling out of the playoff championship, is this really a quality product being put out by the PGA Tour?

Not that emotion was lacking, as John Strege noted, but compared to the annual event that was Q-School, the Web.com Tour Championship is not really coming close to registering.

BTW the 50 who are..."slotted in the Web.com Tour eligibility ranking (1-50)":

Remember, instead of a natural January to October calendar, the PGA Tour went to this calendar-year debac;e to supposedly save the four fall events, none of which will be seen by more people than before when they were off-the-radar tour events. As we head into a cramped 2016 calendar, it's worth remembering that the only reason to have gone to this model is for the enrichment of players and executives. Nothing about it makes sense if making the PGA Tour a better viewing "product" is the goal.

"Spieth’s talents are those that tend to have a shorter shelf life."

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As the PGA Tour prepares to (inevitably) hand Jordan Spieth the 2015 PGA Tour Player Of The Year Award Friday at 11 am ET, Jaime Diaz reflects on all that Spieth does well.

The conclusion that Spieth's greatest strengths tend to have shorter lifespans is bound to upset his fans, but its hard to disagree.

Diaz writes:

Golf is better for Spieth’s special qualities, but he’s got to be of careful of where they can take him. Unlike power, a strength that makes for tour longevity, Spieth’s talents are those that tend to have a shorter shelf life.

Magical periods of putting among the game’s very best tend not to last beyond a few seasons, as Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson can attest. Even Woods, who made more bombs over a longer stretch than anyone, has seen his putting decline.

Intensity is tricky. Those who burn the hottest tend to burn out the soonest. Curtis Strange won with ferocity, but it aged him prematurely as a player. Johnny Miller, always a close student of the strengths and weaknesses of extraordinary players, noted at the Tour Championship that Speith “is kind of twitchy for a 22 year old.”

Reminder: St Andrews Is Back! Dunhill Kicks Off

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The European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship kicks off Thursday morning on Golf Channel (8-noon ET) following a massive lead-in audience and energy injection from a one-hour Morning Drive where Old Tom Morris will be fondly remembered.

Wednesday we debated different takes on a St Andrews trip. I, of course, was right.

Yesterday we talked with Josh Evenson about the evolution of golf art through the eyes of St Andrews.