The PGA Tour cranks into action in Hawaii again today with the Mercedes-Benz Championship, but, unlike last year, when controversy, confusion, doubt, and a healthy (or rather unhealthy) dose of anxiety surrounded the introduction of the FedEx Cup, 2008 kicks off in a relative calm.

Despite the avalanche of bad press the FedEx Cup took in the first half of last season, when skeptics voiced fears concerning the seemingly complex points system, the scheduling of the playoffs, and the manner in which prize money was deferred, it actually finished the year on something of a high when the playoffs produced some entertaining golf, and the man who was supposed to win did.

Commissioner Tim Finchem has said repeatedly that the first season would raise more questions than it answered, and that numerous revisions would probably need to be made in time for this year. But surprisingly few modifications have occurred and Finchem, while acknowledging the major concerns some players still have (mostly that the players aren’t being acknowledged enough), has, not surprisingly, been extremely upbeat. At the BMW Championship in Chicago last September, he said the Cup was accomplishing what it set out to do: Create a better end of the season, develop powerful events in large business markets around the country, get the best players playing and, most importantly, give the fans something they can enjoy.

Among the few changes that have been made for 2008 (apart from the introduction of drug tests, which commence on July 1) is an adjustment to the way the $35-million prize fund is dispersed. Now instead of 100% of it going into the players retirement funds, $16 million in cash will be paid out to the top 10 finishers, with the other $18.5 million being deferred (no prizes for guessing how those below the top 10 will feel about this). Discussions are also ongoing over a possible change to the way points are distributed at the playoff events, the aim being to give more players a chance of winning the Cup than the five who were still in with a shout at the Tour Championship in Atlanta last year. A decision on that is likely to be made at a meeting of the Tour’s Policy Board in February.

The biggest change, however, will be to the dates of the season-ending Tour Championship, which moves from September 13–16 to the week following the Ryder Cup, whose dates, September 18–21, are more or less set in stone. Last year’s Presidents Cup was played two weeks after the Tour Championship, but the PGA of America, which puts on the Ryder Cup alongside the British PGA, was unwilling to move its showcase team event.

At the 2007 majors, several Americans earned points toward qualification for the Ryder Cup showdown in Kentucky. With second-place finishes at the Masters and U.S. Open and a win at the PGA Championship in Tulsa, Tiger Woods leads the standings by almost as impressive a margin as he does the world rankings. Others to have virtually guaranteed their places on the team are Jim Furyk, who finished 13th at the Masters, shared second in the U.S. Open, and tied for 12th at the Open Championship before missing the cut in Tulsa, and Zach Johnson, who surprised everyone including himself by winning the Masters and tied for 45th at Oakmont and 20th at Carnoustie. He too missed the weekend at the PGA Championship, but his win at Augusta set him up for a second Ryder Cup appearance.

Currently in fourth place in the American team standings is Woody Austin. He went from competent journeyman to world-class performer last year, when he not only posted a brilliant closing of 62 to win the Stanford St. Jude Championship in Memphis, but also chased Woods all the way to the finish at the PGA Championship, and then shined at Royal Montreal in the Presidents Cup.

As for majors, predicting the winners is becoming an increasingly difficult business, if last year is anything to go by, Woods notwithstanding. Augusta will always favor the long hitter, especially now at 7,445 yards, but Johnson won with an average poke of just 265 yards and didn’t go for a single par 5 in 2. The U.S. Open, a tournament played on courses traditionally tailor-made for the conservative golfer, was won by the exuberant Argentine bomber Angel Cabrera, who unleashed a 346-yard drive straight down the middle of the 72nd fairway, seemingly unaware of the dangers on either side. Padraig Harrington’s win at the Open Championship was probably overdue, but few predicted it.

Surely Woods is due another green jacket — after all, it’s been three years — and with the U.S. Open being played at Torrey Pines in San Diego, a course on which he has won the Buick Invitational five times, he will likely start as the shortest-odds favorite in major championship history. In July, the British Open returns to Royal Birkdale, where Woods finished a shot out of the Mark O’Meara/ Brian Watts playoff 10 years ago. In August, by which time it’s plausible he could be seeking a Grand Slam, Woods will arrive at Oakland Hills in Michigan for the PGA Championship, eager to erase memories of his humiliating Ryder Cup defeat there in 2004.

Looking to upset Woods’s apple cart will be Phil Mickelson, who has spent his off-season getting in shape with trainer Sean Cochran; Ernie Els, who showed signs of his best form toward the end of last season; Sergio Garcia, who has hopefully taken measures to remove from his head the demons that haunted him at Carnoustie; Furyk, of course, and perhaps Chris DiMarco, who is strong again after enduring a year of discomfort caused by a skiing injury he picked up in March.

The only one of them present in Maui this weekend, however, will be Furyk, meaning another less-than-explosive start to the year. Indeed, 2008 won’t really start for many fans until the Buick Invitational at the end of January, when Woods and Mickelson finally show up. Things will certainly start to warm up after that, though, as the Ryder Cup approaches and the FedEx Cup’s difficult second year takes shape.

tonydear71@comcast. net