Alex Miceli - February 22, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• Feb 22, 2012 9:29 AM ET

Golf Channel Contributor Alex Miceli is in Marana, Arizona this week to cover the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem announced a five-year extension of FedEx’s sponsorship of the FedExCup and Miceli said that this has been in discussions for a number of months now so it was not that much of a surprise. The most important part of this news is maintaining the continuity of the title of the FedExCup unlike NASCAR which has had sponsorship changes.

Hyundai will not become the new sponsor of the PGA TOUR’s supplemental tour after some serious negotiations. Hyundai is heavily involved in a lot of other events, both sports and non-sports, and simply put Hyundai could not sponsor everything. It is very important to the future of  the PGA TOUR in the eyes of many that the Nationwide Tour or whatever it becomes be funded and kept viable.

Over the years, history has shown that you are more likely to find a winner in the WGC-Accenture Match Play among the 4-16 seeds than you are among the 1-3 seeds. The quality of talent and ability are so similar between the highest and lowest ranked players. The fact that the final is 18 holes and not 36 holes makes it that much more difficult to figure out a winner.