FedEx finals

The Tour Championship by Coca Cola finished on Sunday, and the winner, Billy Horschel, walked away with the big prize. He earned the 2500 points for winning one of the other playoff tournaments, which took him from something like 62^nd to the top five going in last Thursday. With the win on the weekend, he had enough points to take the whole enchilada.

Billy went home with $1.4 million for the tournament, and $10 million for the FedEx Cup. Not bad for someone who was a relative unknown. Congrats to him, but it was a disappointing tournament in some ways.

Okay, Jim Furyk who, I believe, has not won in years, gave him a run for the money and finished second. And Rory McIlroy who looked good, had a less than stellar day and ended up third. FedEx speaking, they still walked away with millions.

Millions. Hard to imagine. I looked up some figures, just for interest sake. And because I like numbers.

Top two guys, career earnings, Tiger Woods, no surprise, at $109,612,414 and second place is Phil Mickelson at $75,298,510. Quite a difference.

Our FedEx winner had earnings of $4, 814,787, including the Tour Championship, but not the $10 million. All the talk about how this win will change his life, how much he can do for his family etc. seems a bit ludicrous, as if they were homeless and hungry living on a measly $3 plus million.

And poor Jim Furyk who doesn’t win, plays well enough to have taken third place in YTD earnings at $5,987,395. Wouldn’t we all like to be a loser like Jim.

I’ll admit when I first started watching golf a few years ago I felt bad for these guys who were out there playing, but never winning. Until I saw the money list.

Year to Date Earnings 2014 season, there are 96 players who earned more than one million.

 That’s a lot of money, and though I’ve lost some sympathy for guys who don’t win, at the same time I have to respect the players who go back again and again, trying to be a winner, for success is measured in wins. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t hear the ongoing talk about players who have never won a major.

It’s not an easy career choice, they have to love the game, love the competition. They’re kind of like the mailmen who go on and on no matter what. You know, all that neither rain nor sleet, injuries and losses will keep them away from their dream, hoisting that winner’s trophy on Sunday.