ShareThisThis second edition of the PGA Tour playoffs was a dicey proposition from the start, with Tiger Woods resting his surgically reconstructed knee and Phil Mickelson's game drifting into its customary late-summer slumber.Then, suddenly, Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia pumped intrigue into the "postseason." They offered high drama Aug. 24, improbably draining long birdie putts on the first sudden-death playoff hole. It looked like the postseason might crank out terrific theater even without Woods and Mickelson.Or maybe not.Now, as the golf world eagerly awaits next week's Ryder Cup, the playoffs promise exactly zero chance of suspense at the Tour Championship later this month. Singh will win the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bounty by simply completing all four rounds in Atlanta (Sept. 25-28).That's because tour officials made the points system more volatile this year and Singh won the first two playoff tournaments. So even if Camilo Villegas, currently No. 2 on the points list, wins the Tour Championship and Singh finishes last, the Cup belongs to Vijay."No matter what kind of system you have, if a guy goes out and wins two or three tournaments, it's all over," Singh said on a conference call earlier this week. "There's no way around it unless the last tournament is match play, where you can knock guys out and it's a true playoff."Match play will not happen, because that creates the possibility of a star-less final. So the tour finds itself in an awkward spot, needing to tweak the points system again to increase the chances of a dramatic ending at its final postseason event.There's no perfect solution, because golf does not lend itself to a tidy postseason format (a la the NFL or college basketball). But the FedEx Cup still beats the old late-summer schedule, because it makes the top players convene at the same tournaments. That led to Mickelson memorably downing Woods last year outside Boston and Singh outlasting Garcia last month in New Jersey.Those were great moments. Just don't expect many more this postseason.(E-mail Ron Kroichick at rkroichick@sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
PGA Playoffs need more tweaking
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