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It's about Tiger, stupid

Bill Elliott, Observer golf columnist and editor at large of Golf Monthly, on the FedEx Cup

Picture the scene if you will. It is early autumn 2005 and we are in the office of Tim Finchem, US Tour Commissioner since 1994 and a lord of all he surveys when it comes to pro golf in America. From behind a desk the size of an Augusta green, Finchem glances across at the big guy holding the big cigar who is sitting opposite and doing most of the talking. This bloke is from one of the television companies that drip-feed millions of dollars into Finchem's mink-lined world.

And what he is saying is causing the Commissioner, a former lawyer, to suck back sharply on the air-con that is protecting him from the Florida heat. Finally, the big guy stops talking but only long enough to gather his breath for one final, pithy summation of things as he and his TV colleagues see them.

"Tim, baby, we have a problem here. Mostly, however, it is your problem. Golf when Tiger plays is good business for us. Golf when Tiger doesn't play is just about okay. But it is never even okay no matter who is playing in these goddam events once it gets past August and the football season kicks in. That's when our ratings go down the pan, the advertisers go out to lunch all day and golf carries about as much attraction as a Jim Furyk wig. Fix it Tim. Fix it or your players are going to find themselves back in a pro shop selling some jerk from Tallahassee a tee peg for a living."

And the big guy and his colleagues exit, leaving the office door open as, slowly, Finchem begins to exhale again.

Well, okay, I've used a wee bit of poetic licence here but this is still pretty much the way it happened. And because it happened we this week find ourselves in the era of The FedEx Cup. Or as Finchem would have it, "at the dawn of an historic new era for the game of golf in the United States." The FedEx Cup is The Big Idea that the US Tour hopes will appease all their paymasters.

After earning points all season 144 players qualified for the four tournament climax and at the end of this the winner will receive a 10million dollar bonus. Ten million dollars. The biggest individual bonus in sports, an obscene reward for someone who is already richer than he needs. Probably this person is called Tiger. What is for certain is that Woods' wholehearted participation is crucial to this attempt by Finchem to introduce play-offs and so inject some kind of drama into a season so protracted it has drained itself dry of enthusiasm.

Once the 144 qualifiers have been sorted out the format means they begin to consume themselves. Only 120 players move into the second tournament; 70 make it into the third week and then an elite 30 contest the final at The Tour Championship in Atlanta next month where 35million bucks will be divvied up. Each week the winner picks up 1.4million dollars plus a bunch of points while the eventual Fedex Cup champ gets a 10million buck pension bonus that kicks in when he hits his 45th birthday.

Woods argued long and hard with Finchem about the way this bonus is paid. Tiger wanted cash up front, Finchem refused. Tiger has ducked the opening event this week, The Barclays at Westchester, although after administering this small slap to the Tour boss's alarmed face, he will join in the complicated fun next week and play through to the final.

Finchem admits that he is disappointed at his star turn's decision while the Barclays' sponsorship people are contemplating hurling themselves off tall cliffs. Meanwhile the European Tour hierarchy will watch and wait. If it is a success then expect something similar over here sooner rather than later. If it is a failure then expect public sympathy and private chortling. Which brings us back to whether or not this thing is going to damage golf on this side of the Atlantic.

While it means that Europe's top players have busted their collective gut to make The Fedex, it means also that an awful lot of top class golfers are going to be looking for other action as the FedEx cull takes place and the European Tour will be happy to accommodate the best of the fall-outs. For Europe, for now, it is a win-win thing. For Finchem, however, it has to be win if he is to keep his job. Otherwise the big guy will be back in his office. And, believe me, he won't be happy.