[Steve Bamford]

Remember when both the PGA and European Tour’s best player of the year was decided by a straight Order of Merit or Money List? Those days seem light years away. Colin Montgomerie won the European Tour Order of Merit a record 8 times; with seven consecutive wins from 1993 to 1999. That’s astounding consistency. Tiger Woods was equally as dominant in the US.

However the clamour for TV viewing numbers and the need for a climax to the season at one single championship driven singularly by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has seen; in recent years; the introduction of the FedEx Cup (PGA) and Race to Dubai (European). Do they work? Have they enhanced the show? Can all of the FedEx Cup Champions since 2008 truly claim to have been the best player of their particular seasons? Well I think we know the answer to that one!

So it all leaves me feeling a little cold about the whole thing on both sides of the Atlantic. Take this season’s Race to Dubai where Rory McIlroy has been already crowned the overall winner. Nobody can argue that McIlroy hasn’t been the best player in 2014 and he’s the rightful 2014 champion. However his success does rather make a mockery of the European Tour’s Final Series – a set of 4 big money championships that the Northern Irishman has only chosen to appear in once. Naturally it’s his own decision and I’m not knocking him for that; but it does rather highlight that the Race to Dubai right now just doesn’t work. It’s a mess and if you sat down and tried to explain it to a non-golf fan; they just wouldn’t understand it.

In fact I don’t understand it! Or the need for it. At least the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup has a structure and a flow that we can follow. However the 2014 edition felt long-winded; with a majority of the big names in the game complaining about it’s timing and the sheer length of it. Billy Horschel captured the title after 2 career changing wins in Denver and Atlanta. The US Money List for 2014 reads 1) McIlroy 2) Watson 3) Furyk.

I know which is the most accurate in my mind.

Steve Bamford
Golf Betting System
http://www.golfbettingsystem.com