Comments on: Winning the Tour Championship should mean more

By: Acworthdon

Acworthdon — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:58:19 +0000

One Final comment: To the youngsters who couldn’t carry the suitcase of Mr. Bisher…. Please take you “super talented tear-it-down attitude” some where else. Bish is probably going to leave us soon
but I guarantee you that you couldn’t fill one column with the savy this man has displayed during his
long and brillant career. I know Furman and he tells it like it is and while you can paint your vile bloody
“smart” comments because it is allowed, don’t think they are worth OR mean anything to anyone but your
small little bittie brain. Furman has been a giant to the industry and please let me know when you
EARN any respect from your piers for sports writting!

By: Ken Stallings

Ken Stallings — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:34:41 +0000

Furman, I have to echo and agree with the criticisms. The champion of the year does not need to be the champion of the last tournament. Golf historically is a sport where a collection of players assemble to play and try to win a single tournament.

The only thing different is that the winner of the Fed Ex Cup is the golfer judged by measured standards at having the finest overall season.

There is no controversy. There is no confusion. The golfers knew the standards of measurement prior to the start of the season. No yardstick was changed midway. The Tour Championship should mean exactly what it is — the season-ending PGA golf tournament. It should mean nothing more and nothing less.

About the only thing that provides context for your claim of controversy is that two people accept hardware. The winner of the Tour Championship match gets a check and trophy. At the same stage, the winner of the Fed Ex Cup for best golfer of that year gets a larger trophy and a larger check.

About all one can reasonably ask for is that the winner of the Fed Ex Cup get handed the check and hardware a week later at a televised banquet! But, I’m sure the players themselves wouldn’t like that idea one bit!

By: Cougar

Cougar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:30:04 +0000

Fisher, you 1940’s bigot. If these were true playoffs, Phil would not have made the Tour Champpionship. He didn’t crack the top 20 and Tiger beat him by 35 shots in the previuos 3 events. Phil did what he has done the majority of his career. Win when it doesn’t matter. He is the A-Rod of golf. Phil is GREAT golfer, but not in Tiger’s league. Furman, pleas take a nap.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:08:45 +0000

How can any of you actually believe that Phil deserves more than what he got? He played great rounds of golf on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at East Lake. Well done. You win the golf tournament. That’s all. Tiger Woods is the 2009 PGA Tour Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Vardon Trophy winner, and FedEx Cup Champion. Tiger is #1. Phil is vey lucky to even get the #2 spot after the way he played over the first 3 weeks. Using most of your logic, Phil should have been eliminated after the first playoff event. Tiger is the best player in thew world, had the best “regular season”, and played better than anyone in the playoffs. He was 3-for-3. It’s a shame it was even as close as it ended up being.

By: All I'm Saying Is...

All I'm Saying Is... — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:10:48 +0000

The FedEx Cup was established to make golf relevant after the PGA Championship. And by relevant, I mean to the players and not just the fans and the media. Phil Mickelson, for example, was skipping all the remaining events including the The TOUR Championship prior to the establishment of the FedEx Cup so as to, he said, spend time with his family (while having the chance to cash in on lucrative corporate outings on Mondays and Tuesdays).

The FedEx Cup, therefore, this year for the first time accomplished what it was established to do which was to ensure strong fields and competitive golf during the last four to six weeks of the season following the PGA.

To qualify for the four playoff events, you had to play well during the season and be in the top 125 in FedEx points and then play well in the playoff golf tournaments in NYC, Boston, and outside Chicago to remain in contention since the size of the field declined with each of the playoff tournaments from 125 to 100 to 70 and to 30 for The TOUR. So this part is not complicated.

What was somewhat challenging was figuring out the scenarios for someone outside of the top 5 in FedEx points to win the FedEx Cup….but that’s exactly what the PGA wants as that will make people tune in to The TOUR Championship and watch it all four days especially on Sunday. This year, they got it right as compared to last year when Vijay simply had to play and finish four rounds to win it.

I attended The TOUR Championship again this year and it was the best one yet. And I thought it was awesome to have both Tiger and Phil in the field, playing well, and present at the trophy ceremony at the end. AWESOME!

Hopefully, despite turning 39, Phil will take this win and the momentum and confidence from it and play well next year and finally give Tiger some consistent competition throughout the season and in the majors (assuming his mom and wife return to full health).

(As for Furman Bisher, well clearly writing performance is no longer a criteria to remain on staff.)

By: Shaneneeee Faneneeeeeee

Shaneneeee Faneneeeeeee — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:12:14 +0000

No sir, Phil is not even in the same leauge as Tiger Woods. The big difference is nine out of ten times he plays Tiger has a shot to win on Sunday. Phil will play great, average, or even miss the cut entirely. Phil has won 3 majors, Tiger 14 majors. Phil is never consistent enough so he did not deserve to win the Fed Ex Cup. Tiger will be on the front page of the history books 100 years from now with the likes of Jones, Palmer, and Nicholas. He will eventually pass Jack in Major wins, Phil does not win 10 majors. He is a great player but is no Tiger Woods. There is a big gap between the #1 player in the world and the #2-100 players in the world over a whole season.

By: Red Devil Fan

Red Devil Fan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:38:19 +0000

Rod-You hit the nail on the head concerning Tiger’s profanity. It is disgusting, along with his caddy’s. As far as autographs, you can forget it. This year I saw him at the Masters Wednesday practice round, the first and fourth rounds at the FedEx at East Lake,and did not see him sign the first one. On the other hand, I saw Phil sign for an hour or two each day. I actually saw about 15 to 18 different players signing autographs last week after the rounds were completed at the FedEx. What a great sight to see! Kudos to those guys who remember whose actually paying their inflated salaries.

By: Rod

Rod — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:37:45 +0000

Steve – what a joke!

You said: “He (Tiger) is generous and gracious. Tiger conducts himself very professional during interviews.”

Yeah – IN INTERVIEWS ONLY. Otherwise, when he’s on the course everytime he hits a bad shot (and he hits quite a few) he curses so bad it’d make a sailor blush. His profanity tirades when there are children around is pathetic and disgusting. He has no respect for others – if he did, he’d shut up and think his profanity instead of shouting it.

By: Michael Thomas

Michael Thomas — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:36:51 +0000

To Bobby Jones- Have Mickelson win 11 more majors 40 plus more tourneys and then talk about butt kicking. Goodness sakes please win a POY(0) or a Vardon(0) or a money tilte(0) he never has- that is amazing.Tiger 9 poy(soon to be 10), 7 Vardon’s(soon to be 8), 9 money tiles

By: Pompano

Pompano — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:24:33 +0000

Wow… Bisher actually wrote a column about athletes that are still alive. What a shock.

When are they going to retire this guy – he hasn’t written a decent article in 20 years?