Wernddu Golf Club

Ho-hum. The Fed Ex Cup is over. Finally. It made Tiger Woods $10 million richer (in escrow), but did it make the PGA any richer? Probably not. The PGA hasn't said much about an increase in ratings. And it's easy to wonder if the PGA might go broke if the $10 million it has to keep shelling out each year turns out to be $30 million or more when fully vested.

So why did the Fed Ex Cup flop big-time? Here are a few reasons:

1. The Fed Ex Cup seemed no different than a regular tour event, even lesser in stature than the World Golf Championship events. It didn't help that Tiger Woods wouldn't ever acknowledge that the Cup meant anything more to him than winning a tournament. Let's face it, the PGA is not NASCAR.

2. The scoring system was a mystery and left only 3 players in contention for the final tournament. Why not start the final 30 all from scratch for the final tourney?

3. The golf season is long enough, the Fed Ex Cup only made it longer -- forcing the marquee players like Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and Ernie Els have to skip a week to be with family (such as at the start of their kids' school). The FedEx Cup could be reduced to 2 weeks, a complete shootout.

4. PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem didn't consult with some of the top players enough for settling on the format. It doesn't help when the marquee players are criticizing the Fed Ex Cup.

We received this press release from the agent of Tiger Woods' caddie Steve Williams's:

Speights, the leading beer in New Zealand, landed in New York City this past weekend as a part of Speight's Great Beer Delivery. After a particularly heart-wrenching email from a New Zealand native living in London about missing his favorite beer, Speights decided to bring the beer to people.

The traveling pub left New Zealand on July 25th to embark on a 70-day journey, stopping in New York City Sunday, September 16th. Other stops include Dunedin, Samoa (Apia), Panama, the Bahamas, New York City and finally London. The boat is an exact replica (albeit smaller in scale) of the ale houses found throughout New Zealand.

While in New York, the crew of 5 kiwis was accompanied by fellow kiwi Steve Williams, more well-known as the esteemed caddy of Tiger Woods. They spent their two days sightseeing around the Big Apple, hitting up a driving range for a quick golf lesson and attending their very first Yankees game.

Speights has found a special place in the heart of New Zealanders, and this 70-day journey to please one Londoner proves their unparalleled dedication to their customers.

With an especially impressive day of singles play at the Solheim Cup (details here), young female American golfers proved yet again that they have a lot more gumption (and a lot more talent?) than young male American golfers.

Yesterday at the Solheim, Morgan Pressel took down Annika (who is showing her age) in the feature match. Youngers Nicole Castrale, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis and Stacy Prammanasudh were also victorious in singles. Throw in Brittany Lincicome, and the Americans have six 20-something female golfers with more moxie and game than any 20-something American male golfers.

As usual, though, an interesting female golf story was overshadowed by the men, even though Tiger (and a too easy course) made the FedEx final rather dull. Ever eager to get the ladies their due, here's my latest (crazy?) suggestion:

How about making the Presidents Cup a co-ed event?

No offense to Scott Verplank and Woody Austin and Stewart Cink, but wouldn't it be more exciting to see Creamer and Gulbis and Pressel hanging with Tiger and Phil next week? Similarly, I know I'd be more likely to tune in to see Ai Miyazato and Laurena Ochoa and Karrie Webb than K.J. Choi and Nick O'Hearn and Mike Weir.

Alternatively, perhaps we could and should create another event --- the World Cup? --- which could be co-ed and could assemble the biggest draws from both tours and all countries. As long as the women played from moved-up tees, I think it would be very fair (and very interesting) to see mixed teams playing best ball and alternate shot competitions.