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Boo Weekley Sounds Off on PGA Tour’s Wraparound Schedule

By Sam Belden

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Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

In 2013, the PGA Tour kicked off its inaugural wraparound season, staging six events that winter before the meat of the schedule in 2014. While the format endured its share of criticisms at the time–it was decried for being confusing, unnecessary and overlong–Commissioner Tim Finchem had to have been harboring hopes that it would gain widespread acceptance by the third time around.

Recently, PGA Tour member Boo Weekley made some remarks that Finchem probably won’t be too happy about.

“Honestly, this wraparound season sucks,” he said. “It does, seriously…It’s just, it’s stupid. I still ain’t figured out this FedEx. What does this FedEx Cup stuff do? It ain’t doing nothing, but it is what it is. It’s supposed to be the players’ tour. It’s Tim Finchem and them’s tour, is what it is.”

While Weekley’s words were a bit crude (hey, what do you expect from a guy who gained a good bit of fame doing interviews like this one?), they do raise some important questions about the modern PGA Tour: how much golf is too much, and how many gimmicks are necessary in order to maximize entertainment?

Of course, one must not simply dismiss the wraparound season as a pure gimmick. These low-wattage events at the start of the schedule provide a good opportunity for rookies and reshuffle players to get off on the right foot and jockey for position before the big tournaments start coming (to his credit, Weekley acknowledged this later on in the interview). This change in functionality is a big one for the PGA Tour. The old Fall Series served as a final battleground for those trying to remain within the top 125 on the money list. Now, the season ends at the Tour Championship.

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All that being said, Weekley has a point. The majority of players in each week’s field are PGA Tour veterans, not newbies. They don’t need the seven-tournament fall swing in order to get a jump on things, and they could certainly use a few weeks off after ten full months of globetrotting. Too often, long-tenured members are forced to either overwork themselves or risk heading into the new year with a disadvantage. Neither option is desirable.

Weekley drifted from his wraparound season criticism to take some digs at the FedEx Cup. The former Ryder Cupper professed to still have no understanding of how the points system works, despite having competed in the competition every year since its inception. This echoes the sentiments of many fans and analysts, who often find themselves puzzled by the convoluted competition.

The FedEx Cup has been a wild success on many levels–in addition to providing great drama to end the season, it also entices the world’s best players to tee it up for four consecutive weeks following the PGA Championship, something that would have been unheard of a decade ago. Still, if the players don’t know or don’t care about the points they’re earning, doesn’t that make the competition less riveting?

Of course, some would say that this doesn’t matter. If the fans and sponsors are happy, they argue, then shouldn’t the players keep their mouths shut and just be glad to play golf for a living? Ultimately, Weekley’s remarks were a symptom of the PGA Tour’s focus on its consumers.

On second thought, maybe they were based on something else.

“It’s just golf after golf after golf,” he said. “Ain’t no time for hunting and fishing, man.”

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Regardless of Weekley’s motivations, his comments reflect a basic truth: the PGA Tour’s M.O. is often at odds with the desires of its members. Tim Finchem would do well to listen to these criticisms as he continues to lead the tour into a new era.

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