CADDIE'S ROLE:Are the people at FedEx trying to create a shift in the mindset of the players?

SO THE FedEx system has degenerated into a bit of a joke now with some of the top performers on a consistent basis over the year in serious danger of being sidelined for the play-off in Atlanta after the Ryder Cup at the end of September.

The Deutsche Bank Championship got underway late last week with the Monday finish accommodating the Labour Day holiday weekend in America. There was a shroud of mystery hanging over the practice range last Wednesday as those who had both catapulted up the FedEx ranking and those who had plummeted tried to make sense of the revised points system.

It was becoming alarmingly clear to those players who were affected by the dramatic new system, and the sponsors of the tour showpiece in Atlanta, that this regime may not be guaranteeing them the field they rightly deserve.

If Pádraig Harrington (with his two majors) and Kenny Perry (with his three titles and endless top finishes this season) do not make the final 30 then we have officially had a change of reward values on the US Tour.

Even if Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Anthony Kim are players in the final showdown in Georgia, despite their good and consistent play throughout the year, the absence of the other high achievers of the year does lay a serious question mark over the validity of the FedEx points system as a reflection of the year's performance.

I have explained on previous occasions that in the game of professional golf there are some players who play better, or feel that they will play better, on certain courses - the old horses for courses theory. Their schedule will be plotted around these events and the courses that suit their game or their eye or simply the position of the moon and how it affects their performance on any given week.

So one of the main bones of contention for players in these play-off events is almost like an argument of aesthetics. The course doesn't appeal to a player so he will almost certainly not perform well there. We have all heard, both in the locker room and the caddie shack, stories of players admitting they just cannot get around a certain golf course despite the fact that technically it should suit them.

So for these play-offs and the new points system rewarding players for making cuts disproportionately to those who finish in the top 10 like they do for the rest of the year, it almost marks the end of their year. They are unlikely to get through the first two events in New Jersey and Massachusetts to contend the grand finale of the tour.

Effectively with the new regime, which of course will inevitably be revised for the third time next year, it is the end of the golf world as we have cosily known it over the past two decades. The gradual build-up by playing well throughout the year is not the way to earn the most loot. However, the timing of the performance is paramount.

Perhaps there is a new and serious contender being created to challenge the supremacy of the major events whereby players will now be primed to tread water until August each year. Their reasons being to win the FedEx Cup and its lucrative purse instead of chasing the major dream like most were subconsciously brought up to chase. Perhaps the authorities are saying players can raise their game for majors now it is time for them to do the same for the FedEx Cup.

It is difficult to tell exactly what is going on out there in FedEx land, but there is definitely a change of guard on tour with this seemingly separate set of guidelines to follow. Before the Fed the mantra was play well throughout the year and you will be rewarded even more handsomely at the end of the year. This now is not the case.

I suppose it is a reflection of the way most people live their lives these days; with a huge amount of uncertainty. The golf tour has always been unpredictable and today it is even more so.

To add a further complication to this convoluted reward system the large group of 86 players who made the two-round cut in Massachusetts resulted in a further cut after three rounds. The tour decided earlier in the year that if over 78 players made the cut there would be a further cut after the third day's play in order to make things a little more manageable for television and more importantly, in the event of weather delays. The logistics of getting so many people around the course on Sunday became too problematic with more than 78 players.

Given the late end to the Deutsche Bank Championship it is impossible to calculate the points changes. But given the complicated nature of the ultimate scoring system in this new era of golf it looks like the statisticians will be far more important than the golfer.