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The Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola, which begins Thursday and concludes the official PGA Tour season, used to be a great pro golf tournament.

An exclusive, limited-field event, only the top 30 players from the annual money list qualified for a no-cut finale and a guaranteed payday. It was the All-Star Game of golf. There were always big name winners and a sense of finality to the season.

The Tour Championship used to be the best non-major. Winning the Tour Championship was a big deal. But now The Players Championship is better with its new date, dramatic golf course, glitzy new clubhouse and growing reputation as the “fifth major.” All the World Golf Championships (WGCs) are better. They draw a deep field of the world’s best golfers. Now the Tour Championship is like some glorified BellSouth Atlanta Open, or any other regular Tour event with only moderate interest.

Why is the Tour Championship not what it once was?

First, you need the best players if you want a great event. A new points-based qualifying system has minimized the importance of playing full-time on the PGA Tour, and opened new opportunity for international players to qualify. Great. But young stars like Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas, last year’s defending champion, are on the outside looking in this year. Also missing are recognizable talents such as Ian Poulter, Rory Sabbatini, Justin Leonard and Sergio Garcia. Vijay Singh, Chad Campbell and Adam Scott, all former Tour Championship winners, didn’t even sniff qualifying. That stinks.

You don’t need to have big names for a great golf event, but let’s just say that the fans aren’t exactly excited about John Senden, Steve Marino, Brian Gay, Marc Leishman and Jason Dufner (tough name for a golfer).

Then, the WGC events came along. They have deeper fields, better competition, bigger stature, comparable prize money, more pronounced promotion and – in some cases – better golf courses.

Come on, Coke! Why are Accenture and Bridgestone more aggressive about advertising the WGC events they sponsor than you are about the supposed Super Bowl of golf in your own backyard?

East Lake Golf Club has been the permanent home of the Tour Championship since 2004. It may be sacrilegious to say, because it was home to legendary amateur Bobby Jones and was designed and redesigned by Donald Ross and Rees Jones respectively, but East Lake lacks excitement. Where are the stadium courses, the nouveau links, island greens and the renovated public courses that have made other big pro golf events interesting in recent years? Let’s mix it up. Maybe move it around and give other cities and local corporate sponsors an opportunity to hype the Tour.

Meanwhile, the Tour Championship used to boast one of the largest prize money purses in professional golf, but today it is one of 12 tournaments with a purse of $7.5 million or more in 2009. Nothing unique there.

In fact, the money isn’t even a reason for most of these guys to play. The no-cut payday has less meaning today than a decade ago. Many players don’t need an extra $300,000 for 5th place. They don’t even care. Already 80 players have earned more than $1 million on the PGA Tour this year, and most of the top 100 will exceed that by the end of the so-called Fall Series and “silly season,” err, Challenge Events. And, on the worldwide money list there are 99 single-season millionaires so far, and counting. The Tour Championship’s guaranteed $120,000 prize for last place, nearly double the U.S. median household income for a family of four, doesn’t even rate after taking out taxes, caddy fees and travel expenses.

In addition, some top players like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson haven’t even bothered to play in the Tour Championship in recent years. Both bowed out in 2006 and Mickelson also previously opted out in 2001. Kids and family and, of course, knee surgery. All are valid reasons. They’re independent contractors who can do as they please. But what does it say about a tournament when the game’s top players don’t always show up? It’s like Major League Baseball’s home run derby without sluggers Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols. “No thanks, we’d rather chill at home.” Huh?

Finally, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and the Tour marketing staff have tried to over engineer the event. Now, their culminating FedEx Cup, a season-long points system with $10 million to the winner, is overshadowing what was once a great event on its own. Consider that whoever wins the Tour Championship and its $1,350,000 top prize may not even be the same man who wins the FedEx Cup. What a letdown. Way to devalue the final event.

The tournament will have some exciting play. Someone will shoot low and be a deserving winner. It will be a good event. That’s not the point. It used to be special and more meaningful than it feels today. Maybe Tiger Woods wins it all and makes things moot. He has a habit of doing that. But, the Tour Championship used to be a great event that now is blander and less satisfying than ever – kind of like those caffeine free zero calorie colas with no sugar, no sodium and no reason to bother.