Can Golf Have a Super Bowl?

By: Nancy Berkley


If you think the FedEx Cup is that receptacle for paper clips near the FedEx office copiers, you are out of it. And if you don't know why the back of the caddies' bibs at LPGA Tour events say "Race to the CME Globe,'" you have absolutely failed "Golf Fan 101."

The FedEx Cup and the Race to the CME Globe are both competitions in which players earn cumulative points based on how well he or she plays in tournaments during the season. They both seek to determine who makes it to the final tournament and the ultimate winners. Both are designed to simulate the energy of a "playoff" - something that sports fans really like.

This coming weekend fans will watch the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, completing the eighth FedEx Cup Playoffs. Thirty PGA Tour golfers will compete for the Cup, with the overall Cup winner taking home $10 million.

This year the LPGA's inaugural Race to the CME Globe will be culminated by its CME Group Tour Championship. It's similar in many ways to the LPGA's former Titleholders - but better. The LPGA finale will be played the last week in November at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort's Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.

The FedEx Cup is the 2007 brainchild of PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. His goal was to bring the same kind of exciting grand finale to the PGA Tour that the Super Bowl, NCAA Championships and World Series provides the National Football League, college basketball and Major League Baseball. Finchem wanted to keep fans watching all year long and then finish the season with a bang, putting some bucks on the line, too.

But a Super Bowl-type event needs stars. In Atlanta, unfortunately, the FedEx Cup finale will be minus a few. Tiger Woods is out and Phil Mickelson withdrew last week, saying because he was out of contention for the Tour Championship - and the FedEx Cup - he preferred getting prepared for the Ryder Cup at month's end. Both Bubba Watson and Rory McIlroy are still in it, though McIlroy - the top-ranked golfer in the world and a two-time major winner this year - admitted it's been a long season and he may not have much firepower remaining.

There's a changing of the guard taking place in men's professional golf and it's anyone's guess where the new star power will come from. Heading into the Tour Championship, the top-two players are relatively little-known players Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel.

Finchem must face the reality that, as presently structured, the FedEx Cup is just not a Super Bowl event. There are three reasons that I think explain why this is so.

First, golf is not a team sport at the tour level. Except for one or two formats, including the biennial men's Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup and the women's Solheim Cup and the new LPGA International Crown Tournament - each held in alternating years, professional golf is usually played individually on a stroke-play, head-to-head basis. Unless the tournament is a runaway, it's not usually clear until the final holes on Sunday exactly what head is competing against other heads.

Now, a reader might say, "What about boxing?" That's really head-to-head and the sport can draw big crowds and big money. But boxing is a bloody and noisy sport. Golf is just the opposite. Golf fans have to keep their eye on the "Quiet" signs held up by the volunteers to allow the contestants to concentrate.

And what about a tennis match, such as last weekend's at the U.S. Open where the great Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki? That was head to head! Yes, a match between such truly gifted athletes (as opposed to playing against a field, as in golf) will draw crowds and have the drama of a good Super Bowl.

That leads to my second problem with the FedEx Cup. Its format does not ensure that the final match - and the winner-take-all $10 million bonus - will involve the best players in a particular season. It's my view that the FedEx Playoffs, with its four tournaments, does not resemble a Super Bowl of golf. Finchem recently announced he was going to add some off-time between the events to keep the players fresh, but I'm not sure even that will do it.

The FedEx Cup's final four are essentially elimination tournaments, with the way the points are allocated essentially like playing with a "wild card." A player that has not played particularly well during the season but still qualifies for the Cup (the top-125 qualify for it) can rack up five times the points by winning a Playoffs event versus a regular-season tournament. Though Woods won it in 2007 and '09 to confirm his great seasons, recent winners include Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker and, last year, Henrik Stenson.

Conceptually, opening the door to so many players sounds exciting. Wow! What if a player we haven't heard much about gets going with a hot putter? Or a young rising star finally gets it all together at the end of the year? But the concept is more likely to ensure a Tour Championship with less star power and one less likely to draw a television audience that can compete with NFL and college football games.

And, there's a third reason: It's the way the announcers in the TV booth carry on at PGA Tour events. There is more excitement in my walk to the refrigerator than in that booth. Compare John McEnroe's coverage, with his pitched voice, insights and excitement, during the U.S. Open to that of most of golf's TV commentators, with the exception of Judy Rankin. Putting some energy in the booth would really help.

Let's take a look at the LPGA Race to the CME Globe. The LPGA grand finale takes a different approach. LPGA Tour players earn points during the season for their wins and the points are cumulative - similar so far to the FedEx Cup mathematics. But unlike the PGA Tour, the LPGA does not have a final elimination series. In fact, they go in the opposite direction.

After the second-to-last tournament, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico, the LPGA points allocations "reset." The reset awards additional points to players at the top of the standings, guaranteeing that the final CME Globe tournament will most likely have the tour's top players in contention. In essence, the reset mechanics reward the steadiest performers.

In the FedEx Cup, there's a real solid chance the season's best and most consistent performers are frozen out. But in the Race to the CME Globe some of the wild cards or recent hot players are likely to be eliminated with the reset.

And that brings us back to why golf can't stage a Super Bowl-style event. Golf is not a team sport, it's not fast, it's not noisy and it's not gruesome. Still, a critical 30-foot putt for an eagle is exciting. Let's hope we see and hear some excitement this weekend in Atlanta. We need some good golf to give us something to cheer about in this world.

Nancy Berkley, President of Berkley Golf Consulting, is an expert on women's golf and junior-girls golf. She is a frequent contributor to www.cybergolf.com/womensgolf. Her book, "Women Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women's Golf," published by the National Golf Foundation, is an industry reference on marketing golf to women and spotting trends within the industry. She offers information and advice about the golf industry on www.berkleygolfconsulting.com and is often quoted in national publications. She was a contributing editor of "Golf for Women" magazine and a founding advisor of "Golfer Girl Magazine." Her interviews with women in the golf industry now appear on www.golfergirlcareers.com. Nancy lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Harvard University and Rutgers Law School. After a business and legal career, she decided to write about the game she learned and loved as a teenager. She describes herself as a good bogey golfer with permanent potential.