Donald, Poulter support Tour Championship move

2007-11-15

Share this article:  Digg |  StumbleUpon |  del.icio.us |  Reddit

By Andrew Both Special to PA SportsTicker

MIYAZAKI, Japan (Ticker) - Leading British golfers Luke Donald and Ian Poulter are delighted the PGA Tour has rescheduled the 2008 Tour Championship.

The 30-man finale of the PGA Tour's four-tournament playoff series, was originally scheduled to be played the week before the Ryder Cup next September.

However, wiser heads prevailed and the PGA announced recently that it would play the Tour Championship two weeks later at East Lake in Atlanta, immediately after the Ryder Cup.

"I think there was a big consensus from the players that four in a row was a lot to do," said PGA Tour member Donald, a likely member of the European Ryder Cup team. "Tiger (Woods) and Phil (Mickelson) especially, they just don't like playing four in a row. With the Ryder Cup next year, I wouldn't have played five in a row. I would have had to miss one event and it probably would have been the one in Boston."

Poulter, who is also in the hunt to make the European Ryder Cup team, described the rescheduling as "very sensible."

"You've only got to look at the schedule and see how bottle necked it gets at the back end of the year," Poulter said. "It's too tight, too many weeks."

Woods, Mickelson, Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington were among the leading players who contested only three of the four playoff events this year.

However, the rescheduling of the Tour Championship means there is at least a chance they will play all four next year.

The first three playoff events will still be held over consecutive weeks, with no tournament the week before the Ryder Cup.