Without Tiger, Rory, Padraig or Rickie at the Tour Championship this week, the FedEx Cup has failed to deliver yet again.
The PGA Tour's crown jewel, the FedEx Cup, will be awarded this week, but with several star players not in the field this week, we're reminded of the old Green Day tune, 'Wake me up when September ends.'
Whether it's the B+ field Mickelson, Els and Johnson are in, but Woods, Westwood, Kaymer, McIlroy and Harrington are out, or the momentum-killing, one-week break between the BMW Championship and this week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, we find ourself already looking ahead to October and next weekend's Ryder Cup in Wales.
Four years ago when PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem dreamt up the ambitious and lucrative FedEx Cup, the idea was to create an exciting four-week, end-of-season playoff culminating in the Tour Championship with the likes of Tiger, Phil and Ernie battling it out for the $10 million prize.
And while the big payday has brought additional early fall appearances from Woods and Mickelson, the event's complicated points system continues to confuse players and media alike, and has failed to register with the casual golf fan.
But if the PGA Tour was hoping the FedEx Cup playoffs would mirror the other major sports in terms of creating upsets, as their current TV ads featuring Drew Brees would suggest, then they can go ahead and pat themselves on the back.
Golf, like tennis, is one of the few sports where the fans typically root against the underdog, so we find it hard to believe the suits at PGA Tour headquarters in Florida or the FedEx executives in Memphis are excited at the prospect of posing with their giant $10 million novelty cheque with the likes of Charley Hoffman or Martin Laird.
Tiger's struggles this year have been disastrous for the business of golf, and it's fair to question whether the FedEx Cup will still exist at the end of 2012 when the current deal expires.
"If Tiger doesn't come back strong, and if ratings continue the way they are, it can't help but be a factor when the Tour goes to renegotiate, Brad Adgate, a senior vice-president of research for Horizon Media in New York recently told the press conference.
The PGA Tour and its players would no doubt mourn the death of the FedEx Cup and the tens of millions of dollars of additional revenue it has provided, but the fans?
They could care less how about much money the players are playing for, they just want to see the best players in the world go head-to-head.
They'll see some of them this week, but with Woods, McIlroy, Fowler, Harrington and Kaymer not in the field, the true final significant event of the golf season comes next week in Wales at an event that has managed pretty well over the years without any prize money or giant novelty cheques.
More Ryder Cup
***In the latest development of the will he, or won't he saga involving Lee Westwood's calf injury and his participation in the Ryder Cup, the Englishman and world No. 3 tells The Telegraph he's physically very strong, and that if the event was this week he could play. However, he also conceded there's a chance it could flare up again before the matches. Don't turn your phone off just yet, Paul Casey.
***Meanwhile, Westwood's European teammate and controversial captains pick, Padraig Harrington explains why he's going against the conventional wisdom by suggesting the Ryder Cup captain has a bigger role in the event's outcome than the players do. Should he struggle at the matches, Harrington may eat his words.
