| 28 September 2009 |
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 comments: 39
Tiger Woods may have walked away with close on $11 million, but Phil Mickelson was the real winner of the season-ending Tour Championship. Or was he? The Mole has strong opinions on this FedEx Cup nonsense.
It’s not often that the Mole feels sorry for Phil, especially after collecting over a million dollars, but the FedEx farce that overwhelmed the Tour Championship made Lefty look like a right plonker. Imagine shooting a sublime 65 to come from behind and win the tour finale. Then you look up and see the bloke next to you has a cheque worth 10 times as much?
The Mole is left with a sour taste in his mouth and all comes down to the $10 million FedEx Cup prizemoney. Let’s be honest here, it’s an obscene amount of money, especially given these trying economic times.
Kenny Perry had the right idea when he said he would have donated the entire amount to charity if he had won it.
And another thing: the whole FedEx permutation thing really bugs the Mole. The whole tournament all the commentators could talk about was who was going to win the FedEx Cup. “If X wins and Y comes tie eighth or better then Z wins the FedEx Cup” – that sort of thing. Who cares?
The Mole did have a chuckle at the ambush marketing of tournament sponsors Coca-Cola. The tee-markers were brilliant (hey, check it out, someone dropped a sixpack of coke over there… and there!) but if anyone was still up to watch the presentation ceremony they would have seen the Coke MD addressing the crowd – with his own product in hand. The Mole was waiting for him to take a swig, smile the winner smile and say, “Ah, how refreshing.”
He did manage one last plug of the product when he announced that Phil would be the lucky winner of a Coca-Cola vending machine – stocked for the entire year – for all his efforts. Cue Phil putting the kilos back on, anyone?
Maybe the Mole is just a bit grumpy today, but he can’t shake the feeling that the whole event was ruined by corporate ambush advertising, silly permutations in order to make the whole thing seem a lot more exciting than it was and an absurdly-sized paycheque to the guy who eventually came second.
What do you guys think?
Reader comments: (39)
•Better late than never
Hi Mole. Does anyone know about The Tiger foundation. How much he does for needy American Kid's dreams. Most Golgers give away a lot of their winnings to charity.So stop complaining about how much money does Tiger or any other Golfer who wins does with their money.
posted by: Phala on 2009/10/05
•Nonsense Competition
What a farce! I felt sorry for Steve Stricker when they asked him if he knew he was leading the Fed Ex cup at one stage. He looked embarassed and peed off that he didn't know. Oh well I just lost $10 million dollars!! What a stupid typical yank bull**** competition.
posted by: Andy on 2009/09/30
•Go Tiger
Tiger won the Fedex Cup because he is the BEST. Whatever other format the mole can dream up, he will still win, because he is the BEST.
posted by: Moss on 2009/09/30
•What about skins
I love the skins format . Why don't they have an end of year exciting matchplay tournament , using skins. 30 can still play , they can slog it out for $5000 a hole. Fair is fair. This would be great fun!!
posted by: Matt on 2009/09/29
•10mil
This 10mil is way out of line,American coverage has always been poor ito watching,maybe top 20 playing in the final game,starting equal.
posted by: Willie on 2009/09/29
•1-1
I am not sure where you get the idea of Tiger-bashing from Steve, the Mole doesn't write the comments, just the opinion piece, which doesn't contain any criticism of Tiger, just the event setup.Phil did walk away with a handy $3 million bonus too, so I reckon we call this one all square?
posted by: The Mole on 2009/09/29
•mole tiresome
the molen and his continuous Tiger bashing is getting boring. He should aquaint himself with the facts. Phil got a total of 4.35 million dollars for his season ending performance. Its not Tigers fault he is so much better than the rest. Steve
posted by: Steve Basson on 2009/09/29
•Fedex Cup, YES... US coverage, NO
This happens in all sports. In soccer, (Chiefs/Liverpool) may lose the final game of the season, yet still take the cup, because they were the best team over the season. Bottom line, Tiger is the best golfer by far and deserves to be crowned the season champion. I do agree that the prizemoney is ridiculous. Is it not enough to be crowned the champion? I wonder what ACTUALLY motivates these guys to play - the quest to be the best golfer, or the quest to be the richest golfer. All the players will tell us that the money means nothing, but that is easy to say when it is rolling in. I also agree that the US coverage is shocking. The one thing that gets to me is that when the US networks break for ads (which seem to be every 10min for at least 5 min) the rest of us are left looking at some random shot of the course, instead of watching play. While they are on ad breaks, they could use that time to show Ernie and all the other players who get no coverage otherwise.
posted by: Bignob Rob on 2009/09/29
•No way man
There are no appearance fees on the PGA Tour. On the European Tour for sure and certainly in Asia but the PGA Tour policy is for no appearance fees. For how long?
posted by: Frik-ster on 2009/09/29
•Can't tame the Tiger
The only problem with the FedEx Cup is the fact that Tiger is playing in it. It is impossible to have a "fair" tour-end tournament that is also exciting if there is one player who has won 6 times on the tour and has a tally of more than 70 tour wins overall. The gap is just too big between Tiger and the second best. Having a guy like Ernie win the Fedex Cup by winning the Tour Champs would be a joke as he haven't even won a single event this year and moved out of the world top 10 to somewhere in the twenties. That would be unfair to Tiger. Maybe having a finale with only the top 10 players who really deserve a win (almost as much as Tiger) would be the answer?As for the prize money of $10 million.....not really that much if you take into consideration Tiger's appearance fee of $2-$3million. It's not that I hate to love the guy....its more a case of me loving to hate him. Kind of like the Aussies..LOL
posted by: Steve on 2009/09/29
•OH PLEASE
I am not sure what the farce is about with Tiger. The guy is simply the greatest. He does not have to be this nice guy on the course. He must play the game according to the rules though, which is what he does. Guys like Phil are more worried about pleasing the crowd thats why they are always mentioned as "guys who maybe able to challenge Tiger." Tiger is who he is because of his single mindedness on the course. He has got to where he is because he is competive and does not waste time being a nice guy. This is waht he does for a living so he had better well be competitive and single minded. He is not like us (weekend golfers) who do not get paid to play the game. I would like to see you all (weekend golfers) not being serious about your day jobs. You would get fired or not get the promotion which comes with more money. The truth is in sport nobody remembers the guy who came second and it does not matter how nice that person is. They all signed up for the fedex cup and knew what was up for grabs. Tiger did what he had to do. So please get over yourselves and accept that Tiger is the best player and will be for some time. To be this successful after such a long lay off must surely get the other players to rethink their work ethic towards the game. As Tiger said, "Noone can out practice me." By the way, all you Tiger haters can take that to the bank. I know you hate to love the guy.
posted by: Raymond Nyamuziwa on 2009/09/29
•Who's Tigers Advisors
Don't blame Tiger, it is all about $$$$$$$, and GREEEEEEED, don't forget about poor old Steve, he also has to Eat, the only good thing about this crazy, Professional sport is, it doesn't matter how many Million $$$$$$$$ one makes, you can only eat 3 meals,a day, Drive one car at a time, sleep in one bed every night, and have a good crap, just like other fortunate people, so I am sure all Charities World Wide do benefit, from these rediculous Prize Monies, AND the Tax man. Even our Proud South African Sportsmen and women donate to Charities!!!!!!!GO Ernie ,you can DO-IT.
posted by: Woodge on 2009/09/29
•Charity
If Fedex feel that they really need to blow USD 10 million, then change the format so that the winner donates the whole amount to a charity/ies of his choice.Imagine the goodwill generated from this!
posted by: Dave on 2009/09/29
•Mole for King
Go Mole Go! The other topic that needs to be debated is "The Yanks and their coverage of events". It is not that Woods chap I hate (perhaps a little, you never see him smile only his darned bottom lip quivering). If you want to cry give it up for your sponsor and "Just Do it" damit. If you ask a Brittish person what he thought of a meal he would say it was "nice" a Yank would say "*#*#@ AWSOME, Get in the HOLE" they always seem to get that phrase in. The ignorant fans and the single minded comentators are tigers (yes I know I used a small "t", it's the way I like it) worst enemys and the cause of so much hate speach. More evenly spread coverage of the golfers in the field and decent presenters would do th sport the world of good.
posted by: John on 2009/09/29
•Yes Tiger is good .... very good
I am 100* in agreement with all the comments about how good Tiger is and what amazing things he has done for golf ... he fully deserves all his wins ... including the Fedex Cup ... BUT now that he is where he is it is the right time in his career for him to really show the sort of person that he is ... and provide a real role model for those that follow him ... the Fedex cup was the ideal platform for him to do that ... in todays economic climate no one can honestly condone one person winning so much money when he already has more than he would know what to do with ... Fedex and the PGA tour need to rethink this whole format.
posted by: Pete on 2009/09/29
•Fedex Cup and Tiger
Maybe the Fedex Cup would be a better and exciting tour-end tournament if the Tour Champs field is cut down even more. The last competition should be played Million Dollar style with the leading 12 or 16 players, each who would deserve to win the Fedex by winning the final tournament. The prizemoney should also be more evenly spread, eg. $1 Million extra for the winner, instead of $10 Mil. As for Tiger, I think he is an incredible player, but if you really think about it, he must be the only player out there who is always giving the impression that the course is "cheating" him. Every put, no matter how long, if missed he is cursing by himself, openly dissapointed and basically saying "how could that have turned left, I am Tiger and I can't be wrong". Just because he is the best player around, doesn't give him the right to quite frankly be a "bad sports". Cant be very nice to have him as your playing partner.
posted by: Babs on 2009/09/29
•Tiger - Best thing for Golf since Arnie.
If you golfers out there cannot recognise what Tiger has done for Golf worldwide then you are missing a great show!! Have a look at the Money leaders page on pgatour.com, see how many golfers are making a great living from the game due to the "Tiger" factor. He brings sponsors money to the game. He generates the interest in golf. He is a marketers dream, no wonder his sponsors pay so much for him. Talking problems with the way the tour is presented to the public, well the US broadcasting and coverage is just crap. Johnny Miller is an idiot!!
posted by: Deon on 2009/09/29
•FED EX FARCE
I agree with the mole it is a farce.Why not play for the title and donate the entire amount to charity.All these players do not need the money,and iam sure they would feel better knowing they have done something worthwhile for say, starving people around the world.brian 29/09/2009
posted by: brian on 2009/09/29
•wrong format
i think that the whole format is wrong when somebody can come from behind and win the big prize when tiger woods was and is clearly the best golfer out there.maybe they should change the format somehow to make it more wxciting.I also think that the winner should get half the prize money and the other half should be donated to the charity of the winners chioce.pity though that it was the tiger show again and not much coverage of anybody else.
posted by: Ian on 2009/09/29
•Go Kenny!
Tiger already has an obscene amount of money ... if he had donated the money to charity he would have become an golfing icon in my eyes up there with the greats ... now he still remains just a very good golfer for me ... and as much as he is great to watch i will always be rooting for the other guy ....
posted by: Pete on 2009/09/29
•Are you Real Golfers
Tiger desrved the $10m from accumulating points, stop being sinister and jealous, i applaud Phil Mickelson, he outplayed the course on last day. Tiger has done more for charity and he still does, don't look at what he look like, look at the contribution he has made in Golf, I do not remember such hate comments during Nicklaus and Player. You go Tiger.
posted by: Bheki Shezi on 2009/09/29
•All Good
Golf is golf and Tiger is the phenomenon that is golf just like Norman before him and Nicklaus before that, so give him a beak he is the best golfer around for a country mile and as for charity, he certainly gives back, but I must add, go Ernie almost an Ace!!!
posted by: Ray on 2009/09/29
•European Tour coverage better
DSTV should just can the US PGA coverage, it's biased and non-representative, one could actually call it the "Tiger Woods" show. Shouldn't they dedicate an entire channel to Tiger and give us the option of another channel similar to the European Tour coverage where they give all the players in contention similar coverage ? To top it all, DSTV has a logo on the screen stating that it is "Live", meanwhile it is delayed if you follow the scoring online ... many frustrations watching golf. 10 out of 10 for the European Tour, extremely enjoyable to watch.
posted by: Ivor on 2009/09/29
•good for the game
tiger as we know draws spectators as well s tv viewers, so like it or not the fedex saw him playing in extra events in the season, which has to have been good for the game...
posted by: koos on 2009/09/29
•senseless
Who needs this type of golf the Fed Ex is a farce, if they want to get rid of this much money they should donate it to sick kids
posted by: Peter Sellar on 2009/09/28
•NAKED HATRED
When was Tiger ever foul-mouthed??Phil played well but what has that to do with Tiger?By the way he has given more than 10 million dollars to Charity by himself!
posted by: Rob on 2009/09/28
•Sour Grapes
Common Mole, it is 'refreshing' to see a corporate like CocaCola commit to sport in such poor commercial times. Tiger is a real winner - CocaCola is not made of sour grapes.
posted by: Roy on 2009/09/28
•Enjoyed it
Mr Mole, why be so sour and negative? Do you feel the same about the Race to Dubai? We regular TV spectators enjoy the add-on to both tours.
posted by: Almero on 2009/09/28
•Golf fan
What's up with the mole and all you guys. Nobody does more for golf and charity than Tiger. The Fedex Cup is played over many months not just one week when anyone can win. Phil didn't have his mind fully on the game all the time but it would have been nice to see him win the Fedex cup too. It is irritating that Ernie and Retief aren't shown more often but this is America and we have to accept it. And golf is the winner not the player no matter how you look at it.
posted by: Matt on 2009/09/28
•Fedex Hype
All the hype over the Fedex Trophy detracted from the main tournament which was the Tour Championship, won by Phil playing superb golf. Who cares if Woods won $10m, he doesn't need it, and it doesn't improve his image, he is in my opoinion, a foulmouthed, surly, arrogant player who spits continously. yetch!
posted by: Max on 2009/09/28
•Confused
You keep going on about the guy who came second took home a cheque of $10 mill. The way I understand is that the money is paid over the next 10 years on something similar. Please someone spell it out to me. Correctly.
posted by: Jock on 2009/09/28
•TV Cameras to players evenly if not equally.
I may agree that seeing a player at +20 over and over may be boring. But I cannot understand why this cameras will only show Ernie or Retief when they make boogies or berdie and then make them dissapear from the screen. You have to scroll the leader board from your TV from time to time to get update on this two when there is always all others featuring repeatedly. Do someone have an answer for me maybe am just over reacting
posted by: MJ on 2009/09/28
•Silly Mole
Right-on Dan. Silly mole indeed - forgot what ambush marketing is all about...Coke was the tournament sponsor after all.And why the wailing about the Fedex Cup right on the last day..? All the pros entered the tournament willingly and in full knowledge of the regulations..but they could not deliver.So what is the Tiger phenomenon all about?? I say he is not good for the game - he hogs the limelight,the TV coverage, the winners' cheques and is totally record-orientated. What does he put back into the sport? He is the greatest for sure, but I say ENOUGH! Go Ernie..!
posted by: Petros on 2009/09/28
•Tiger's Choice
So what is Tiger going to do with his $10 million ?
posted by: Niel M on 2009/09/28
•Ambush Marketing?
Coca-Cola was the title sponsor of the Tour Championship. Why then, do you refer to Ambush Marketing? Surely it is their right to do what they like at the tournament? Perhaps you should talk to Nandos about what Ambush Marketing really is. Silly Mole.
posted by: Dan on 2009/09/28
•Fedex Farce
It's ****, this whole Fedex playoff for 10 bar is ridiculous, let them play to win for charity and donate the money according to each players individual placement at the end.
posted by: Tom on 2009/09/28
•FED EX CUP
I think Fed Ex and UPS should merge and we could have the FedUp Cup! It really does water it down when someone shoot the lights out and the other kid gets 10 Bar and the headlines! There must be a better finale option, even if the top 10 in the standings got to play in 1 round of intense competition for the cash! Golf on TV is getting a bit tired lately!!!
posted by: Neil on 2009/09/28
•Ernie's near ace
Except for Ernie's near ace- what was with those flag poles!? Happened three times where a player hit the flag and justbounced away unsually - repellent paint perhaps? Also feel sorry for Phil actually and he would probably have donated all of it to breast cancer awareness &research on the spot.
posted by: Greg on 2009/09/28
•bad coverage
we didnt even see ernie - and he was in the top 10
posted by: Wikus on 2009/09/28
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