2008 Woodie Awards
Tyler's Take: FedeX delivers
Tyler Walton
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
Recently, I found myself lying in the grass looking up at the sky. The many years I had wasted playing flag football flashed before my eyes, for I had just gotten laid out by the one and only Aaron Falk, a sophomore, enabling senior David Kern to score . . . again.
Along with football, I devoted time as a child to baseball. Although my scant frame is well suited for baseball, my friends tell me that I throw like a tennis player. I do love tennis but I can only assume this observation carries effeminate connotations.
With those ventures out of the picture, the sport I now look to with longing regret is golf. I wish things were different, because a new system has appeared in golf gives good payouts to even the mediocre players.
Up to this point my playing experience consisted in trying to not recreate the situations from my younger years: I hit my pastor in the shoulder while teeing off on the ninth when he was standing on the eight green holding the pin at the father-son outing.
Golf has never looked as lucrative as it does right now. The PGA tour has finished its first season using FedEx Cup standings. The system is similar to what NASCAR uses. I will explain it for the all but three people reading who don't really care about NASCAR.
The FedEx Cup ranks players using points accumulated through the season based on tournament performance. At the end of the year, the top 144 players get at least $30,000 with the top player (Tiger Woods this year) receiving a $10 million bonus. The total payout for the FedEx Cup is $35,000,000.
The Tour does not allow players to touch this bonus money (other than choosing how it is invested) until the ripe age of 45. At which point they can choose to defer payment until turning 60 or they will automatically receive the money if they fail to compete in 15 PGA Tour events in a year. Payments are received in a series of monthly installments over five years. With all this money available it seems a pity that none of it is heading my way.
I respect golf as a game of focus, etc., but any sport that anticipates athletes competing beyond age 45 shouldn't be considered physically taxing.
Look at one of the best players in the world, no one in their right mind says, "If only I could look like Phil Mickelson then my life would be perfect." If he can walk 18 holes competitively then I know I could stand up to the physical exertions required by golf.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that professional athletes in other sports are able to spend a vast portion of their time smoking, drinking, and gambling as is John Daly's habit.
So while I may have some things in common with Daly, an incredible golfing ability and the chance at $10 million are not included. Apparently the whole "mental toughness" thing is a little harder to grasp than I thought initially.
Along with football, I devoted time as a child to baseball. Although my scant frame is well suited for baseball, my friends tell me that I throw like a tennis player. I do love tennis but I can only assume this observation carries effeminate connotations.
With those ventures out of the picture, the sport I now look to with longing regret is golf. I wish things were different, because a new system has appeared in golf gives good payouts to even the mediocre players.
Up to this point my playing experience consisted in trying to not recreate the situations from my younger years: I hit my pastor in the shoulder while teeing off on the ninth when he was standing on the eight green holding the pin at the father-son outing.
Golf has never looked as lucrative as it does right now. The PGA tour has finished its first season using FedEx Cup standings. The system is similar to what NASCAR uses. I will explain it for the all but three people reading who don't really care about NASCAR.
The FedEx Cup ranks players using points accumulated through the season based on tournament performance. At the end of the year, the top 144 players get at least $30,000 with the top player (Tiger Woods this year) receiving a $10 million bonus. The total payout for the FedEx Cup is $35,000,000.
The Tour does not allow players to touch this bonus money (other than choosing how it is invested) until the ripe age of 45. At which point they can choose to defer payment until turning 60 or they will automatically receive the money if they fail to compete in 15 PGA Tour events in a year. Payments are received in a series of monthly installments over five years. With all this money available it seems a pity that none of it is heading my way.
I respect golf as a game of focus, etc., but any sport that anticipates athletes competing beyond age 45 shouldn't be considered physically taxing.
Look at one of the best players in the world, no one in their right mind says, "If only I could look like Phil Mickelson then my life would be perfect." If he can walk 18 holes competitively then I know I could stand up to the physical exertions required by golf.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that professional athletes in other sports are able to spend a vast portion of their time smoking, drinking, and gambling as is John Daly's habit.
So while I may have some things in common with Daly, an incredible golfing ability and the chance at $10 million are not included. Apparently the whole "mental toughness" thing is a little harder to grasp than I thought initially.
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