Caddie's Role:It was not the usual mad dash to a back-to-back tournament last week on the east coast of the USA. We could enjoy a gentle saunter from New York to Massachusetts for the Deutsche Bank event. With the Labour Day holiday weekend and a Monday finish we had an extra day to get to our destination, so some of us took the rare opportunity to enjoy some sightseeing in Manhattan.

We are so programmed on tour nowadays to move on swiftly to the next event, or so anxious to get home if we have a free week, the idea of actually looking around at the cultural attractions of such a metropolis is seldom entertained.

It was the end of the first week of the new regime on the US Tour so the 24 of the initial 144 players who did not make it into the top 120 on the FedEx Cup playoff list could spend as long as they liked absorbing the rich culture of the city or head home to reconsider their golfing plans for the rest of the year.

I have always found the extremities of America - the cities on the outer rims - the most fascinating. So spending back-to-back weeks on the northeast coast proved a welcome break from what can become a monotonous trail around the central part of the tour. Making a few detours along the route through New England, through towns with either British or native American names, you get a true sense of how refreshingly different that part of the country really is.

The Westchester Country Club in upstate New York represents old money. The course would not look out of place in Surrey, and the members are probably the American equivalent of Surrey folk.

The TPC in Boston is a new club with a cleverly contrived old look. It reminded me of a heathland course in the south of England with its rugged bunkers and fescue borders.

On the one hand the tournament represents this very American idea of a playoff; on the other hand it represents the new, global concept of a modern event. Seldom has such an American idea been sponsored by so many non-US companies; two weeks ago it was Barclays, last week it was Deutsche Bank, and this week it is BMW, whose brand is ubiquitous around the neatly trimmed fairways.

Despite the fact strokeplay is about getting around in as few shots as possible, this FedEx thing can be a bit of a distraction.

Just what are we chasing - dollars, points, retirement funds or birdies? No matter what we are chasing the sponsors are hot on the heels of viewers, but the television ratings were disappointing in Westchester a few weeks back.

Football, the very sport the new system was trying to avoid competing with, had more viewers for a final pre-season game. A mini-league baseball event for 11- and 12-year-olds attracted more couch potatoes than did the denouement to the Barclays Classic.

Despite the fascinating duel between KJ Choi and the revitalised Steve Stricker, after which the gracious Korean admitted golf had won in the end, there is seemingly no show without Tiger Woods.

This is both good news and bad news for golf. As long as Woods is happy to chase his ball around big events those of us who make a living competing in the same arena are benefiting. As soon as he decides he has had enough of this pursuit the arena is going to shrink dramatically.

There is an unhealthy dependence on the main man. This of course is not his or the tour's fault; it is more a reflection of the tendency toward obsession with superstardom in the States. Most US golf fans would prefer to see Tiger replace a divot than see Phil Mickelson or Padraig Harrington hit a three iron to within 15 feet of the pin.

For those of us who have been weeded out of the second "cut" in this FedEx Cup system there are decisions to be made about where to play for the rest of the year. For my player, Retief Goosen, the Deutsche Bank event determined if we went west or east.

Aware our current lack of form is due mainly to a cold putter, we headed east on the weekend. The autumn of our golfing year will be spent in Europe and Asia.

This is an indication of the many tiers in the pecking order of world golf.

The elite US golfers will curtail their involvement in the fall finish to the US Tour. Cutting back there will offer opportunity and incentive for foreign travel if they so desire. The tendency may well trigger more invitations to Asia and particularly China.

For those who have been eliminated early from the FedEx there is still the opportunity to play in tournaments all the way to early November.

Despite these events being less prestigious they offer great opportunities for players of modest profile to take a tour title, because there will be fewer truly elite players competing.

Woods is the Manhattan of golfers, and despite the beauty and charm of Chicago and San Francisco, New York city will always be more alluring for the majority of golf buffs. Television ratings soar when he plays.

Let's hope, however, he does not beat Jack Nicklaus's record in majors any time soon - or we all may have to take a pay cut.