The concept of the FedExCup isn't bad, but the execution and logistics -- could use some tweaks. So says columnist Grant Boone, who suggests a few ways to help the season-ending playoff capture a little more drama and a little less controversy.

By Grant Boone, Special to PGA.com

First off, a disclaimer: my FedEx Cup does not runneth over. In fact, when I first heard the PGA Tour had overhauled its schedule for 2007 to create the FedEx Cup and its season-ending playoff series, I had the following reaction:

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Now that they're finally here, my level of anticipation has risen to somewhere between motor vehicle registration and barium enema. Perhaps that's because of Tiger Woods' decision to skip this week's first round, The Barclays at Westchester Country Club, or maybe because I assume no matter who advances to the Cup-concluding Tour Championship, Woods will bury 'em eventually.

That Woods could not only skip Westchester but the second and third rounds, too, if he so chooses is what makes the Tour's spin on these playoffs less historical than hysterical. All year, Ponte Vedra has positioned these four weeks as golf's equivalent to other sports' postseasons, which would be exciting if it were true.

For one thing, the Tour's playoffs begin with 144 participants. Actually, that's about the same number as hockey, so never mind. Seriously, 144 players? Exactly who are we leaving out? Basically, if you show up at maybe 25 tournaments, manage to stay fully clothed, make a couple of cuts, and don't sprain your wrist signing your scorecard, you're in.

Take Jeff Gove. (Please!) Gove finished 144th to secure the final spot in the playoffs. Here's how his 2007 looks on paper:

Tournaments entered - 22
Cuts made - 14
Best finish - T6, John Deere Classic
Top 10s - Just that 1
Top 25s - Still that same 1
Top 26s - Keep going
Top 27s - Hey! We're up to 3!
Top 38s - Still those 3
Top 39s - Cha-ching! Make it 4!

You get the idea. It's like Murray updating Flight of the Conchords' band members Jemaine and Bret on how many people are in the fan club. (Murray: "We have two. Jemaine, you're one of them. Do you want to join, Bret?" Bret: "No, I'm not really a fan of the band.")

By the way, Gove's season doesn't look better on any other surface than it does on paper. He's currently 152nd on the money list, which - if he winds up there at season's end - will earn him a one-way ticket back to the Nationwide Tour ("Where the future is playing now!"). Gove's best finish this season in a tournament that also included Tiger Woods was a T61 at the Wachovia. Gove should be echoing Jim Mora, vis-?-vis his playoff participation. Instead, he'll tee it up this week - again, without Tiger. (Side note: I know Gove has more fans than the Conchords, so I hope all of you understand my profound respect for anyone who's made it to the PGA Tour. That puts him in the nth percentile of anyone who's ever put a peg in the ground. It just shouldn't put him in something the Tour is billing as an exclusive series of events.)

Next, the Tour talks about "resetting" the FedEx points at the beginning of the playoffs, but they don't start from scratch. The 144 who make the playoffs are seeded according to their places in the standings. The points leader begins the playoffs with 100,000 points, meaning he can skip the first three playoff rounds and still have enough to be one of the 30 players who advance to the Tour Championship. In case you're wondering, it's only mathematically possible for the #1 seed - i.e., the leader in FedEx points for the season - to skip the first three rounds and still make the Tour Championship. Who is that points leader? Tiger Woods! Granted, the Tour didn't know for sure when it created that point scale that Woods would end up #1. But it's a little like Bret guessing that Mel won the Flight of the Conchords' fan competition.

Murray: How'd you know that?

Bret: Because there was probably only one entry.

Murray: No, there was hundreds actually.

Bret: Really?

Murray: Yep! They were all from Mel. And one from Jemaine. But he was disqualified.

The Tour is all but giving Tiger an excused absence from the first three rounds. He'll always play the second round event, the Deutsche Bank in Boston, because his foundation is the benefiting charity. And he'll likely play the third, the BMW Championship, at least this year's at Cog Hill where he's won before. But in the years that tournament is played at Bellerive and Crooked Stick, all bets are off.

Giving the top seed a first round playoff bye is one thing. Not making him show up until the championship round is a system only Marty Schottenheimer could love.

Finally, there's the butchering of the schedule. Essentially, all the Tour was trying to do in creating the FedEx Cup was shorten the season (to appease the likes of Woods and Mickelson) and, in the process, snag a little extra attention at a time when the nation's sports pages are made of pigskin. They went 1-for-2.

Yes, Woods, Mickelson, and other Tour nabobs can now effectively shut their seasons down earlier than in past years. But shoehorning those four existing, big city tournaments into a giant FedEx box and calling them playoffs has created one significant problem and failed to solve another.

To make room for the BMW Championship, the Tour blew up the second oldest tournament in the U.S., the Western Open, removing big time golf from the Chicagoland area on an annual basis. Now it will blow through the Windy City just once every three years. Chicago is only one of America's great golf cities.

Worse yet, there's still the issue of getting anyone to notice you're still playing when football's on. The second playoff week is being played over the opening weekend of college football. The third playoff round starts on Thursday, September 6, the same night the Colts open defense of their Super Bowl title at home against the Saints, and ends on Sunday when the rest of the NFL teams begin. By the time the Tour Championship rolls around the week after that, golf will be about as popular as Michael Vick at the Westminster Kennel Club.

The Tour, of course, is counting on the previous three weeks and the $10 million first prize generating enough interest to lure viewers away from the gridiron. Won't happen. You'd need a more gimmicky format like winner-take-all and a ridiculously large first prize, like $25 million, to make the average sports fan pay attention that time of year. Even with that, you'd still need Tiger.

What's embarrassing for the Tour is that they not only don't have the best playoff system in golf, they're late to the party. The LPGA debuted a better version of a playoff last year with the ADT Championship. Only 32 players qualify, those being the winners of the biggest events, including the majors, and the rest of the top money winners. The field is whittled down to 16 after 36 holes and scores are erased. The top eight advance to an 18-hole Sunday shootout with the winner earning a $1 million payday, which is three to four times the amount of a regular tournament.

Think of how cool this could've been. The PGA Tour could've kept Westchester and The Western Open in their traditional summer spots, ensuring that Chicago kept the tournament it deserves. They could've moved the Deutsche Bank in Boston to this past week. And best of all, they could've created an ADT-style Tour Championship - with players getting knocked out after the second and third rounds - and played it this week.

You'd be building toward a truly exclusive and unique event all season, then play it before either the college football or NFL seasons kicked off.

Speaking of getting kicked off, I probably should quit now before I go the way of Jim Mora, who was relieved of his duties a month or so after that infamous playoffs rant. Besides, I'm pretty sure another memorable Mora quote comes to mind when the PGA Tour considers my armchair quarterbacking. Begins with "diddly" and ends with "poo."

Grant Boone is a husband, father, golf broadcaster, and sports journalist based in Abilene, Texas. His column appears on PGA.com each Wednesday and every day during major championships and other big events. He can be contacted at pgagrant@hotmail.com.

The views and opinions expressed here do not reflect those of PGA.com or The PGA of America.