Finchem talks business

Commissioner Tim Finchem, while painting an overall positive picture of the state of the PGA Tour, said the possibility exists that the Tour will lose tournaments in the upcoming seasons, and will almost certainly lose title sponsors. While tournaments might be lost, Finchem didn't think it would necessarily mean an upcoming schedule with a smaller number of events. He likened it to the Buick Open, which ended its 51-year run on Tour this past year, but is being replaced next year by the Greenbrier Classic.

"We will have a good, solid schedule in 2010, but I think it's also important to recognize that marketing budgets are still down, and with the underlying economic factors stable but not getting worse, that's good," Finchem said. "But it's certainly going to take a while to improve. In a nutshell, I'd characterize the situation as good, maybe even comparatively quite good, when you look at other enterprises. We have our challenges ahead of us."

While admitting that most golf fans might not understand how the FedEx Cup points system works, Finchem said he's pleased with how things have played out this year, with the season almost breaking down into three parts: the events leading up to the four playoff events; the first three playoff events (Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship) that determine the Tour Championship field; and now this week, with 30 players competing for the FedEx Cup, everyone eligible to win the $10 million bonus after the points were reset.