It's not broken, but Barclays will shuffle next year

PARAMUS, N.J. -- A rather famous historical figure from this general geographic quadrant of the country once famously said, "Give me Liberty or give me death."

Next year at The Barclays, who knows, players might get both.

The tournament that opens the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup series relocates to its third site in as many years in 2009, moving to Liberty National, built on a reclaimed site within view of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.

It's never a great thing when the most memorable thing about a course centers on its vistas and sightlines, but that's seemingly the case with Liberty National, based on preliminary reviews of New York-area outlets.

Barclays president Bob Diamond played Liberty National on Friday with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and came away impressed. But he freely admits that he's not the greatest golfer on the planet, either.

"I do (like it), but I have to give you one great big caveat," Diamond said Saturday. "I believe it is (a good venue) but I'm probably not the right judge."

Diamond said the course, an engineering marvel that is built on a once-polluted site now covered with several million yards of dirt, is still tweaking tee boxes and some landing and approach areas in preparation for the professionals. Diamond said the tour is working through issues like parking, whether the practice range is big enough and how galleries will be channeled throughout a tight, constricted site with little extra wiggle room.

"That will be a challenge, but I think we have those challenges worked out," Diamond said.

Not that tour players ever complain about stuff like that, right? Liberty is located in Jersey City, N.J., and he envisions players staying in Manhattan and taking a ferry to the course each day. Getting the paying public to the course, local residents believe, will prove a little more difficult.

Ideally, Diamond said The Barclays will rotate between as many as three or four area courses, possibly including former tournament site Westchester Country Club, Liberty and this week's host course, Ridgewood Country Club. The latter, a parkland-style course compared to Liberty's link-type design, has certainly been well-received by players this week.

"In terms of its New York-ness, I want that," Diamond said of the potential rota. "I think it will be cool."

The controversial move to Ridgewood, made abruptly earlier this year after a very public squabble between the tour and longtime tournament site Westchester, has created few apparent downsides for the sponsor. Diamond said that the turnstiles have been humming and reported an increase in attendance over last year's event in Westchester. There were roughly 18,000 fans on the course Friday, he said, and he expected 20,000 for each weekend day.

Beyond the bodies on hand, and despite the ratings dominance of the Olympics on television, Diamond believes the FedEx Cup television numbers will improve over last year, Tiger Woods' absence notwithstanding. This is where his familiarity with the playoff product, and golf as a public attraction minus Woods, falls mostly into the speculative category.