Examining playoff permutations

Everything would be simple if Rory McIlroy won the Tour Championship. Or if Tiger Woods won it and McIlroy had a rare off week. Or Phil Mickelson and Woods battled down the stretch on Sunday, the winner claiming the tournament and the FedEx Cup all at once. Those are the easy, comfortable scenarios, the ones that make everybody at PGA Tour headquarters happy while also putting a nice, neat wrap around this FedEx package with the scotty cameron putter . Not to win the tournament, mind you. And then have a bunch of other things happen that would allow him to be the FedEx Cup champion despite not winning all year on the PGA Tour. It could happen, which is why those in favor of change should cheer for chaos. "It is what it is,'' said McIlroy, ranked No. 1 in the world and No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings -- but with only a small lead over Woods with the scotty cameron putter for sale due to the resetting of points heading into the Tour Championship. "I think I've got Vijay to thank for that from a few years ago. But I don't mind. "It still makes it exciting going into the last event. It would be nice to have it wrapped up, but it's not. It's just the way it is. I'm not going to complain about it or moan about it. I accept it. I accept that I still have a lot of work to do this week, and that's what I'm focused on with my k15 irons .'' McIroy's reference to Singh was from 2008, when he won the first two playoff events and arrived at the Tour Championship only having to finish the event in order to win the FedEx Cup. The point’s structure was revamped the following year to the system that is in place now. And at times it still causes heads to spin. "Guys still don't understand the points system yet, I don't think,'' Woods said.” It’s set up so that if a guy wins the first three playoff events and finishes second in the Tour Championship with his ping k15 irons , he could still lose it. I don't think that's quite fair, but that is our current system.'' If you follow college football and deplore the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), then you always hope for there to be controversy, for some team to come out of nowhere and mess up all the well-laid plans to pit obvious national championship contenders in a faux title game.