Did Phil Mickelson just wake up and look at the PGA Tour schedule. Sure it's changed a bit over the years, but I think I've read where they have tried to make the tournaments more "travel friendly". By that I mean, they try to keep events in one region of the country for a few weeks, then on to the next region for a few weeks. Now if you are Phil and live in California, chances are that most weeks are going to be away from home. Some real far away from home. But did he not realize this when he joined the PGA Tour. It's not the PAC 10 golf schedule, it's the PGA Tour. So when I read that Phil didn't like the schedule for the playoffs because he missed his kids first day of school, I thought that was disappointing, but don't blame the PGA Tour schedule. The PGA Tour has moved around, city-to-city, like the circus, since long before you and I were kids. And Phil, you have a simple choice to make. Either play or don't play. You either have the opportunity to win more money or don't. It's not up to Tim Finchem to make sure the events are near your house.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Hey Phil. Your job requires travel.
Did Phil Mickelson just wake up and look at the PGA Tour schedule. Sure it's changed a bit over the years, but I think I've read where they have tried to make the tournaments more "travel friendly". By that I mean, they try to keep events in one region of the country for a few weeks, then on to the next region for a few weeks. Now if you are Phil and live in California, chances are that most weeks are going to be away from home. Some real far away from home. But did he not realize this when he joined the PGA Tour. It's not the PAC 10 golf schedule, it's the PGA Tour. So when I read that Phil didn't like the schedule for the playoffs because he missed his kids first day of school, I thought that was disappointing, but don't blame the PGA Tour schedule. The PGA Tour has moved around, city-to-city, like the circus, since long before you and I were kids. And Phil, you have a simple choice to make. Either play or don't play. You either have the opportunity to win more money or don't. It's not up to Tim Finchem to make sure the events are near your house.
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4 comments:
If Phil doesn't want to play, why is that so upsetting to you Shades? As an independent contractor, I think he has the right to play when and where he pleases, assuming that he has qualified for the event.
The part that I think is b.s. in all of this is that there are not alternates for these tourneys... several guys who were otherwise qualified have skipped events, yet they don't go down the FEDex cup to grab the next available person (i.e., the 71st person on the list could get Phil's slot this week). That doesn't seem right. Plus, I assume they are playing pairs all four days in Chicago... if an odd number of players show up, that would mean that someone would play as a single for the first 2 days...
Anyway, the FedEx has been mixed for me... it certainly didn't work to draw the best players to all of these tourneys as Tiger, Phil, Ernie, Paddy Harrington, etc. have all skipped or will skip events. That said, I did find it compelling following JG's progress this past week as I was obviously hoping he'd get to the next event.
My point wasn't whether or not Phil wants to play. It's that he's bitching about the schedule. Play or don't play, I don't care. He has choosing to skip the FEDEX event in Chicago because of "the PGA TOUR schedule". That's fine, but then since he has a choice to play or not play why complain about the schedule. The schedule is what it is, but he shouldn't whine about it because he missed his kid's first day of school. He could have skipped the event near Boston, but chose not to. As a previous independent contractor I knew that I had the choice to travel or not travel to a job site. I've chosen not to go to some job sites for one reason or another, but I didn't complain about the location of the job site. It's not their fault the job was located where it was and I'm located where I am. Phil knew ,when he became a PGA Tour player, what the travel and schedule would be like. So why complain about it now?
I agree with you though about grabbing the next available person. That should have been a no-brainer.
And I too am not finding anything special about the FEDEX Cup. This makes it like the NHL. Play a whole season then let everyone but 4 teams in, and before you know it.. it's hockey in the summer. Maybe the PGA Tour season should start with Augusta, end with some big tourney at the end of the year and get rid of the tourney's made up of Nationwide guys over the course of the season. Basically a compressed PGA Tour schedule made up of the 4 majors and 15 other tournaments. Then a season ender over Labor Day weekend with the top 20 point leaders. I'll wait for Tim Finchem to call me.
Aaaaaaaaaa-MEN, Shades!
It's classic that some think they're 'above' the TOUR. He's his own little circus.
I think the issue is that for there to be a true "playoffs" system you'd have to piss off the rank and file members of the tour. I'd find it a lot more compelling if they shrank the fields down right from the start... maybe have 70 at the first event, cut to 30, cut to 20 and 20. As it is, the guys that are near the bottom (or hell, the middle) when this thing starts have virtually no shot at winning it.
It's also stupid how they reset the points... Love him or hate him, Tiger has been the best player all year, and the reward he gets for that is minimal. I still can't figure out if it is good or bad for the Tour if he ends up winning this thing.
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