Players hope tweaked Cup leads to high performance

PARAMUS, N.J. – The name of the points leader, remarkably, remains all too familiar.

As he sits out the postseason this year, however, there's no way he'll still win the biggest bonus in professional sports.

Lefty is No. 3 on the FedEx Cup points list. (Getty Images)

After a 2007 maiden voyage that ranked with the Titanic for unscheduled interruptions, gaping holes and cold water in the face, the FedEx Cup series begins anew Thursday at The Barclays, where the points have been tweaked and electing to stay home will be like going deep-sea swimming without a life vest.

As it played out under last year's inaugural system, eventual winner Tiger Woods could have still claimed the $10 million cash bonus even if he'd skipped two of the four designated series events. Remarkably, though he has not played since mid-June, he's still in first place in points as the playoff opener begins at Ridgewood Country Club.

Rest assured, after much offseason grousing and some turns of the tour wrench, the injured Woods will not finish atop the cash pile this time around. The FledEx, as it was derisively dubbed last year when everybody from Phil Mickelson to Ernie Els to Padraig Harrington joined Woods in skipping events, has been ratcheted up and recalibrated.

"We have a race," said Stewart Cink, who stands sixth in points. "We have Tiger out, and we have a lot more changes going to happen in the playoffs."

All thanks to the modifications announced, albeit with a great degree of tardiness, in March. After stubbornly declining to alter the oft-panned FedEx points system after the pockmarked '07 run, the tour at last unveiled major tweaks during the Florida Swing. While pundits believe more FedEx changes are still warranted, at least the number of contenders will be far broader than last year, when Woods skipped the opener of the four-tournament series, then finished 2-1-1 in the final three to hoist the chrome cup in Atlanta.

Just like in American political tastes of late, there's been a huge push toward the middle. That is, after the playoff points were reseeded this week, the tightened differential between No. 1 and the last-place qualifier at No. 144 will presumably allow more players to advance through the playoffs each week as the fields grow smaller. Also, the number of points available each week has been increased, creating a heightened Cinderella-in-spikes factor.

"The point spread is like a third of what it was last year," Cink said. "Everybody is squashed together so close."

Squashed beats quashed any day for those in the back of the pack, who had little chance of making a significant series splash last year. At the Barclays and DeutscheBank events last year, the first two in the FedEx series, the combined number of players who earned enough points to jump from outside the qualifying mark and into a spot in the field the following week could be counted on one hand -- four.

By crunching the 2007 results with this year's centrist points system, a combined 38 players would have advanced to the following weeks' events.

"I think that's what everybody wants to see, the players and the fans, so hopefully they will get it right this year," said last weekend's winner, Carl Pettersson.

It's a step in the right direction, anyway. The oft-bandied buzzword with regard to the points adjustment, and we'd best get used to hearing it, is "volatility," because this time, those who play well will be richly rewarded and those who don't will pay the price. Eyeball these prominent lab rats as a for-instance: