The Changes: What to know

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Why we made minor changes to the point system in the Playoffs
We wanted to increase volatility, enabling players to move up faster if they play well. We wanted to create more excitement by having more players with a realistic chance to win the FedExCup going into THE TOUR Championship. At the same time, we wanted to maintain the importance of the Regular Season along with the integrity and credibility of the Playoffs.

Inside the Numbers

A look at the narrower point reset

Position Original Revision 1st 100,000 100,000 2nd 99,000 99,500 3rd 98,500 99,250 5th 97,500 98,750 10th 96,250 98,125 30th 93,250 96,630 70th 90,250 95,030 120th 86,500 93,030 144th 84,700 92,070

Camilo Villegas (Reset: 52) Actual 2007 Revision Barclays (21st) 46 29 Deutsche Bank (9th) 34 21 BMW Championship (7th) 28 14 TOUR Championship (9th) 24 13

Point increase for first three events

Event Finish Original Revision 1st 9,000 11,000 2nd 5,400 7,400 3rd 3,400 5,400 4th 2,400 4,400 5th 2,000 4,000 10th 1,350 3,350 30th 340 2,340 70th 100 2,100 Miss Cut/Event 0 0

TOUR Championship Point Increase

Event Finish Original Revision 1st 10,300 12,500 2nd 6,200 8,500 3rd 3,900 6,000 4th 2,800 5,000 5th 2,300 4,500 10th 1,550 3,700 30th 395 2,000

Player movement

Player Movement Actual 2007 Revision Number who "played their way in" to Deutsche Bank 2 11 Number who "played their way in" to BMW 2 17 Number who "played their way in" to TOUR Champ 3 8

Chance to Win Actual 2007 Revision Mathematical 6 12 Realistic 4 6 Would win FedExCup with a TOUR Champ victory 2 3

Benchmark player changes

Rich Beem (Reset: 134) Actual 2007 Revision Barclays (seventh-place finish) 113 68 Deutsche Bank (30th-place finish) 110 59 BMW Championship (N/A) Not Eligible needed 4th

Camilo Villegas (Reset: 52) Actual 2007 Revision Barclays (21st) 46 29 Deutsche Bank (ninth) 34 21 BMW Championship (seventh) 28 14 TOUR Championship (ninth) 24 13

Vijay Singh (Reset: 2) Actual 2007 Revision Barclays (MC) 6 23 Deutsche Bank (60th) 6 20 BMW Championship (64th) 9 22 TOUR Championship (seventh) 10 15

How we accomplished this
We made two relatively small changes to the structure that, when combined, meet our objectives for the revision:

• First, we narrowed the gap between players' point totals at the reset going into the Playoffs. For example, the gap between first and second was 1,000 points last year, we reduced that to 500 points this year. We made similar reductions all the way down to 144. (See Appendix I for additional examples.)

• Second, we added points in all the Playoff events. The way we did this was to increase by 2,000 the points awarded to each place receiving points. For example, a 3rd place finish was worth 3,400 points in 2007; it is now worth 5,400 points. (See Appendix I for additional examples.) This means that players who play well will move up more dramatically than in 2007.

Results
Following is a comparison of what actually happened last year to what might have happened if this system was in place (See Appendix I for additional examples):

More volatility: Instead of only two players "playing their way in" to the next event by moving into the top 120 for Deutsche Bank Championship or 70 for BMW Championship, we would have had 11 players moving up into the Deutsche Bank Championship field and 17 into BMW Championship. THE TOUR Championship would have had at least eight players moving in, instead of three.

More chance to win the FedExCup going into THE TOUR Championship: Instead of only six players with a mathematical chance of winning, we would have had 12, and instead of only four players with a realistic chance of winning, we would have had six.

Importance of the Regular Season / integrity & credibility of the Playoffs: The top seeds still had the advantage, and the players in the Top 20 who finished the first three events would still have made it into THE TOUR Championship. At the same time, the players who played best in the Playoffs -- Woods, Stricker and Mickelson -- would still have finished 1-2-3 in the FedExCup.

Examples (Volatility)

• Rich Beem, who started as the 134 seed, finished seventh at The Barclays and only moved up to 113th. Under the revised structure, he would have moved up to 68th. Vijay Singh started as the No. 2 seed, but missed the cut at The Barclays. He dropped to sixth, but would have dropped to 23rd under the revised structure. At 23rd, he would be in danger of missing THE TOUR Championship, especially if he missed another cut.

• Camilo Villegas started as the 52nd seed and finished 21st at The Barclays, 9th at Deutsche Bank Championship and 7th at BMW Championship, moving up to 28th going into THE TOUR Championship. Under the new system, he would have been 14th going into THE TOUR Championship.

Examples (Chance to Win)

• Only Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods could guarantee a FedExCup crown by winning THE TOUR Championship in 2007. Phil Mickelson needed Tiger to finish no better than third. Rory Sabbatini needed Tiger to finish 14th or worse (and Stricker third or worse). K.J. Choi needed a Tiger finish of 21st or worse, Stricker fourth or worse and Mickelson third or worse. Aaron Baddeley needed even more pieces to fall into place. Under the revised structure, Stricker, Woods and Mickelson would have won the Cup with a TOUR Championship win, Baddeley and Sabbatini would win the Cup with a victory as long as Steve Stricker didn't finish second, and Adam Scott and K.J. Choi could win if Stricker was outside the top five and Woods was outside the top three. Five others would also have had a mathematical chance at victory.

F.A.Q.

1. What do "mathematical chance" and "realistic chance" mean?
"Mathematical chance" means "under any possible set of circumstances, no matter how unlikely." For example, if Player A could win the FedExCup only if every player ahead of him in the standings DQ'd, he'd still have a mathematical chance. By "realistic chance," we mean this: If Player A can win the FedExCup by winning THE TOUR Championship while the points leader finishes 11th, Player A has a realistic chance. On the other hand, if Player A can't win even if the points leader finishes 11th or worse, we (somewhat arbitrarily) declare he does not have a realistic chance to win the Cup.

2. The No. 144 seed can move into the points lead with a victory at The Barclays. Will this be credible? (i.e., Will the FedExCup truly represent the "season-long champion?)
Unlike other events, the Playoffs and the FedExCup are not about a single event. In order to win the FedExCup, a player will have to play extremely well over the course of four weeks on golf courses representing very different tests of skill. Unless the No. 144 seed wins again or has three more great tournaments, he will not be the FedExCup Champion. If, on the other hand, he does have four brilliant weeks of play, he has done in the Playoffs what many other underdogs have done in college and professional sports -- overcome enormous odds to achieve a remarkable victory. That victory will be just as credible as North Carolina State winning the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament, the New York Giants beating the New England Patriots this year in the Super Bowl and other famous upsets.

3. Does this mean the top players will have to play all four events to win?
No. The structure is slightly revised versus last year, but even with the revisions, Tiger would still have won the FedExCup despite not playing at The Barclays. Certainly, however, skipping an event will have more drastic consequences this year than last, since there are significantly more points available in each event.

4. Do you think with this change that the top players will play all four?
Each player, including the top ones, has to decide what strategy gives him the best chance to win the Cup. One or more of them may decide that they will play better by taking a week off. That is a high "risk-reward" strategy. For example, last year, that strategy worked very well for Tiger, since he went on to finish T2-1-1 and win the FedExCup going away. By the same token, the strategy could backfire if the player has an off-week in one of the events he plays. That will be especially true this year, since there are more points available at each event.

5. Will the Playoffs be a success if the top players don't play all four?
The Playoffs were an enormous success last year -- strong ratings, record number of spectators, fantastic sponsor activation and support and four incredible tournaments. Steve Stricker's heroics, the Tiger-Phil battle at Deutsche Bank Championship, Tiger's duel with Aaron Baddeley and Steve Stricker at the BMW Championship, and then Tiger's dominance at THE TOUR Championship. We expect the Playoffs this year will provide just as much drama and excitement, and with the minor changes we've made in the points structure, possibly more.

6. What would the top 10 have looked like under the new structure?
Nine of the top 10 would have stayed in the top 10, although K.J. Choi, who finished fifth in 2007, would have dropped to ninth because of having to withdraw from an event. Similarly, Vijay Singh, who finished 10th in 2007, would have been 15th due to his missed cut.

7. Did the top players (or any player) cause this change? / How much input did the players have in this change?
We solicited and received input from players, fans and the media regarding what worked and what didn't in 2007. Clearly, the overall result was positive, so we didn't want to make any major changes. But the players and fans were pretty universal in stating that they wanted more volatility and more opportunity for drama and excitement in the final event. We are confident this change will deliver that.

8. Do you anticipate changing the Playoff or Regular Season points structure in the future?
We expect these minor changes will create the volatility and the drama and excitement we're looking for, and that we won't need to make further changes to enhance the program. We knew all along that in the first year, we would learn a great deal about how it was going to work, and we are delighted it worked as well as it did, which is why we made so few changes. That said, we will be looking at the FedExCup this year and every year to understand how it could be improved from a fan perspective and a player perspective.

9. There were 50,000 points available in the Playoffs last year, compared to 25,000 in Regular Season events. The Regular Season events still have 25,000. How many points are available in the Playoffs now?
Looking at the total points available in an event isn't really meaningful -- no one can get all those points. What makes more sense is to look at how many points are awarded to various places --first place, second, third, 10th, and so forth. In every case, there are 2,000 more points awarded in the Playoffs this year to those places than last year. We've done that because that change, coupled with the narrowed reset margins, provides the best method for creating more volatility in every event, and more drama and excitement in the final event.

10. It looks like there are 190,000 points available in the Playoffs compared to only 25,000 in the Regular Season. With a differential that big, doesn't that take all the meaning out of the Regular Season?
Both the Regular Season and the Playoffs are critical to winning the FedExCup. Using the revised point structure, four of the top five seeds and six of the top 10 would have still had a chance to win the Cup going into THE TOUR Championship. So seeding is vital, which is what the Regular Season is about. But playing well in the Playoffs is also vital -- the No. 2 seed, along with the seventh, eighth and ninth seeds, did not have good Playoff finishes, and all would have dropped out of contention, even with the revised points structure. Bigger moves are possible this year, but there are still huge hurdles to overcome if you're not in the top 30.

11. Last year, THE TOUR Championship was worth the same number of points as the other Playoff events. Why is it worth less this year?
Again, looking at the total points available is not really relevant. The important fact is that, in the first three Playoff events, every place receives 2,000 more points this year than last year for that place. That same thing is true for THE TOUR Championship, with the exception of some minor rounding.