I have to admit that I wasn't sure if PGA TOUR golf after 2007's FedExCup would be of interest to anyone other than those trying keep their TOUR playing privileges for 2008 and stay inside of the top-125 on the money list. Well, I'm happy to report that I was wrong. After this past weekend's Viking Classic, won by Chad Campbell, I heard from many golf fans who think that this fall's "Chase for the Card" series will be very interesting. And after watching the finish today, I'd have to agree.
I think back to my early days on the PGA TOUR in the late 70s and early 80s, when we were all chasing our dreams of winning and becoming #1 in the world. But before we could do that we had to worry about "keeping our cards" for the following year. Nothing was more important than our PGA TOUR tournaments in the months of August, September and October....not college football, major league baseball or the NFL. It was all about keeping your "job!"
With our new end of the year FedExCup "playoff" format, the attention is certainly on Tiger, Phil and the other great players on the world's stage, but this fall we'll get to see some of our future stars emerge. Players like Bill Haas, Nick Flanagan and Johnson Wagner will be trying to win the first tournaments of their PGA TOUR careers while players such as Harrison Frazar, Shaun Micheel and Jesper Parnevik will be trying to jumpstart their careers, just as Campbell did at the Viking Classic.
It may not be Vijay Singh or Ernie Els chasing Tiger Woods down the stretch in the upcoming months, but I promise you that there will be a lot of exciting golf and fantastic finishes by some of our youngest and brightest stars, destined to become household names on the PGA TOUR in the near future.
At least that's my take...what's yours?