Although Tiger's failure to reach the top 30 in the FedEx cup standings and make the Tour Championship is no doubt a disappointment for Tiger and the PGA Tour alike, Tiger's poor play this season presents a great opportunity for the World's (barely) number one and for the Tour. While many have assumed that Tiger is now done for the PGA Tour year, his elimination from the playoffs does not preclude him from participating a an event or two during the Fall Series, the group of events left out of the FedEx cup rotation and thus in dire need of a marquee player to garner some attention.

Playing in a Fall Series event would not be a move unbefitting of a world-class player. In fact, during the inaugural year of the Fry's Electronics Open at Greyhawk (no longer a part of the series), Phil Mickelson highlighted the field and the eventual winner was none other than Masters champion Mike Weir. Tiger's participation in perhaps the Disney event or maybe Vegas would do wonders for these struggling events while at the same time giving Tiger a chance to show he is a changed man to those inside and outside of the golf world. Playing in the fall would show a level of humility in Tiger that we have not seen despite Tiger's vows to change after the personal issues he dealt with last winter.

Perhaps more importantly, for Tiger at least, is that the Fall Series gives Tiger a chance to get his game in order. Sure, the Ryder Cup, HSBC Champions, and the Chevron provide deeper field, but none of these provide him with a full-field, PGA Tour event in which to shed the winless mantra that has followed him since that fateful post-Thanksgiving crash last November. The extra rounds in the tour setting could only help Tiger regain his form and at the same time would do wonders in his simultaneous struggle to regain respect on tour and in the world at large.

Watching Tiger grow as a player and as an individual, I would be the first to say that such a decision to play in one of these backwater events is unlikely to be made even by a changed Tiger Woods. However, if Tiger is truly invested in making himself a better man and a better golfer, there is an opportunity here for progress to be made.