The PGA Tour listened to its players and created a week off suring its Fed Ex Cup playoff schedule for 2008.

The Barclays, Deutsche Bank and BMW Championship will still be held in consecutive weeks starting in late August. But now, there will be a complete week off from golf before resuming with the Ryder Cup Sept. 18-21, 2008. The Tour Championship will be held the following week.

That makes seven important tournaments in a nine-week stretch. That begins with the WGC Championship in Akron, Ohio, followed by the PGA Championship. Then there's a tour event very few of the top players will participate in before the Fed Ex playoffs begin.

I still think you may see Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson skip a playoff tournament, but at least the tour tried to alleviate the problem of playing so many straight weeks.

It's alsbo about time the tour decided to institute a drug-testing procedure. With becoming ineligible on tour for up to a year as a first offense, this policy should have some teeth to it - unlike some professional sports.