Couples keen on shorter PGA Season

Ask most of the players who participated at this year's Target World Challenge if the PGA season is too long and the resounding answer would be yes.

One of the most vocal is tour veteran Fred Couples, who believes that less is definitely better.

"Yes, the season is too long," Couples said. "I could have told you that since 1985. ... There is 45 straight weeks of golf, that is crazy.

"They (tour officials) say you can take time off any time you want. OK, then when I take time off don't go looking for me to play in (an event like) the Hawaiian Open and schmooze with the sponsors so we can keep them there three more years."

PGA commissioner Tim Finchem believes one of the main obligations the tour has is to provide as many players as possible with the chance to make a living on tour.

Couples said Finchem is a fine commissioner, but that the tour's main focus shouldn't be on the many but rather on the few, as in the game's best players.

"I think the PGA Tour should be more about the best players," Couples said. "We carry it.

"If we had 30-32 events, there's a lot of those (top) guys who play most every one of them."

Couples said the tour should do what NASCAR does - hold fewer events so its top players would compete at nearly every stop.

"The money list will not change if we have 32 events," Couples said. "It will be harder for some of the guys who don't play as well as others, because most tournaments would be stronger, but that's why they have a Nationwide Tour."

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