New format for the FedEx Cup play-offs means leading golfers will compete for the biggest pay day in the sport
The PGA Tour still has some work to do on the format for the play-offs for the FedEx Cup, and while they will never satisfy everyone, Heath Slocum is not complaining.
Just a few days ago most golf followers would have been hard pressed to recall any outstanding facts about the 35-year-old American who had missed the cut 10 times in his 23 Tour outings this year and had not won an event since 2005.
After his latest failure at the Wyndham Championship a fortnight ago, Slocum endured two days of nail biting until the tournament finished to reveal that he had sneaked in to the play-offs as the 124th of 125 qualifiers.
A dramatic victory in The Barclays tournament on Sunday saw him pocketing US$1.35 million (Dh4.95m), more than Stewart Cink earned when he won the British Open Championship at Turnberry in July.
Suddenly he lies third in the play-off standings behind only Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in the race for the FedEx Cup and the outright winner's prize of $10m that goes with it. In reality, he is less likely to win the golden egg than Woods is to miss another seven foot putt on the final green to force a tie as he did on Sunday.
But considering the FedEx Cup runner-up gets $3m, third place is worth $2m, fourth place $1.5m, fifth $1m and even the 125th and last of the qualifiers snaps up $70,000, Slocum's mediocre year is not looking bad any more.
And good for him. Four solid rounds can make a season for any golfer without interfering with the normal process by which the biggest rewards go to the best and most consistent players.
I just wonder whether, in their eagerness to prevent their end of season being overshadowed by the start of the National Football League programme, the PGA Tour has gone a step too far.
Launched three years ago to keep golf in the spotlight at a time when the attention of the TV networks would focus on the NFL, the FedEx Cup was revamped for this year to ensure the winner of the $10m prize is decided at the Tour Championship, the last of the four play-off events.
Basically, players earn points from each event from January and August, with the number of points available depending on the quality of the field.
The 125 who qualify for the play-offs are reduced to the top 100 after The Barclays and the leading 70 after the Deutsche Bank Championship starting tomorrow, with the top 30 after next week's BMW Championship going into the Tour Championship at the end of the month.
As an attention catcher the new end-of-season finale has certainly worked, although it has had its critics and the Tour has been forced into changes.
In the first year Woods was so dominant that he could afford to miss the opening play-off event and still win, and would have won even had he also skipped the Tour Championship. Last year, Vijay Singh had such a big lead after victories in the first two play-off events that he had mathematically clinched the title before the Tour Championship and only needed to play out the four rounds to complete the formality.
In an effort to keep the excitement building towards the season's climax this year, the Tour opted to reset the points before the Tour Championship, with the leading player getting 2,500 points, the No 2 earning 2,250 points down to No 30 who receives 210 points.
It means any of the 30 players will have a chance to win the richest prize in golf, worth more than the top prize at the Dubai World Championship which rounds off the European Tour's Race to Dubai in November.
The winner, like the golfer who tops the year-long money list, also gets a five-year Tour exemption, and while I am all for the underdog having his day, I am just a little uncomfortable with the possibility that the biggest rewards in the game could go to a player who may get hot for one month.
Even taking into account the fact that his putting let him down at the US PGA Championship, Tiger's last green miss on Sunday was a surprise, and it may give his main rivals a boost.
I have felt for some time that the other top players believe Tiger has it in him to do what he needs to do to win, and they effectively think their way out of it when they go head to head with him. But his US PGA defeat, followed by Sunday's failure, show that he is human.
No player has suffered more from Tiger's dominance of the game than Ernie Els, but the Big Easy is at last showing signs that he could be getting back towards his best.
Els has gradually been finding his form, thanks to a rediscovered, full flowing swing, after reverting to coach David Leadbetter just before the British Open Championship.
He is now finishing the backswing without rushing his downswing and has started to look like the Els of old.
This is exciting for golf because Els is up there with Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia as one of only a small clutch of players who can match Tiger for skill.
Like Mickelson and Garcia, Ernie has been having putting problems all year, although his stroke has started to look better recently. For some time he has had far too much shoulder movement. Now he has more freedom in his hands and his stroke is a lot more balanced.
I fancy him to finish the season strongly, and whether you like the FedEx Cup format or not, it could produce some fireworks over the next month.
Former Tour player Philip Parkin is a TV golf commentator with the BBC and Golf Channel in the US.
pparkin@thenational.ae
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Key 2013/14 UAE Motorsport dates
October 4: Round One of Rotax Max Challenge, Al Ain (karting)
October 1: 1 Round One of the inaugural UAE Desert Championship (rally)
November 1-3: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Formula One)
November 28-30: Dubai International Rally
January 9-11: 24Hrs of Dubai (Touring Cars / Endurance)
March 21: Round 11 of Rotax Max Challenge, Muscat, Oman (karting)
April 4-10: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (Endurance)
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Results
5pm: Al Maha Stables – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Reem Baynounah, Fernando Jara (jockey), Mohamed Daggash (trainer)
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: AF Afham, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Emirates Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Ghallieah, Sebastien Martino, Jean-Claude Pecout
6.30pm: Emirates Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Yas Xmnsor, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi
7pm: The President’s Cup – Group 1 (PA) Dh2,500,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Adrie de Vries, Jean de Roualle
7.30pm: The President’s Cup – Listed (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Haqeeqy, Dane O’Neill, John Hyde.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
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The Specs:
The Specs:
Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 444bhp
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
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Company%20profile
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MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports