More bad news for FedEx Cup

For a series that already has taken more body blows than Gerry Cooney, the FedEx Cup suffered its biggest yet Sunday.

It was announced that the greens at the East Lake Club, site of next week's Tour Championship, are in such bad condition because of severe drought and excessive heat that practice rounds and Wednesday's pro-am have been canceled.

"While restricting players' practice rounds and canceling the pro-am is not an ideal scenario, we felt this was the best scenario," said Henry Hughes, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the PGA Tour.

"We felt this was the best decision in order to allow us a few more days to prepare the greens for this event."

It's the first time many players can remember the Tour taking such extreme measures.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Tiger Woods said. "Certainly in my years on Tour and amateur and junior golf, I've never heard of it being canceled with good weather. This will be interesting to see."

Both Steve Stricker and Aaron Baddeley had the same reaction: "It is what it is."

"It's a good thing there are only 30 players; that will help the greens," Baddeley said.

"You're just going to have to accept missing a lot of putts," Woods said.

Thanks, dad: Mark Wilson didn't have to see the flight of his ball or listen for the reaction of the crowd around the green after his approach shot to No. 4 on Sunday.

All he had to do was watch his father.

"My dad was standing behind the green and I saw him raise his arms and I knew it went in," the Chicago resident said of his eagle. "We were playing it as a 140-yard shot downwind and you can't see the hole from the fairway, but the ball mark was about a foot left of the hole."

The final five: Only five players remain in the hunt for the $10 million bonus awarded to the FedEx Cup champion next week in Atlanta: Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson, Rory Sabbatini and K.J. Choi.

Aaron Baddeley, who finished second Sunday at the BMW Championship, was sixth overall in the Cup standings, just a few points behind Choi.

"Unless I get extra double points, then I have no chance," he said with a laugh.

Just missing out of the top 30 advancing to Atlanta were Luke Donald (31), Jerry Kelly (32) and David Toms (33).

State of the BMW: Things sure didn't start out as BMW Championship tournament director John Kaczkowski would have liked, what with the week beginning late thanks to a Monday finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the withdrawal of Phil Mickelson and then some heavy rains in the opening rounds.

But through all that, Kaczkowski remained pleased with the way things turned out.

"It's been a great tournament, all things considered," he said. "I think the bad weather really hurt us -- moving the tee times up Thursday and Friday.

"But if you look at the crowds on the weekend … if you get good weather and you get good leaderboards, it shows this formula works and golf can survive here in September."

He said it: Steve Stricker on the possibility of winning $10 million bonus as FedEx champion: "I don't think people understand; $10 million to me is a lot different than $10 million is to guys like Phil and Tiger."

He said it II: Tiger Woods upon hearing that Steve Stricker thought Woods turned toward him and Aaron Baddeley after making his birdie putt on No. 12 to make sure he saw it: "No, I didn't do a Sergio."