Bryan Burwell

I look at professional golf differently now. In the past few weeks since a bum-kneed Tiger Woods limped off Torrey Pines with another U.S. Open title firmly in his grip, then hobbled off into an indefinite and uncertain vacation from the spotlight, I’ve been able to reconcile his absence rather easily.

Until now, Life Without Tiger (LWT) has been a series of uneventful non-major no-shows like last week’s John Deere Classic. It freed up my summer weekends for more important things like completing that ever-expanding Honey-Do list of incomplete projects around the house (my motto: “Happy wife, happy life.”). I could easily forget about LWT because I had other things to occupy my mind like my weed whacker, hedge trimmer and other power tools in the garage.

But it’s British Open Week, and things are a bit more complicated. I’ve tried mightily to ignore this, but I’m sensing my first symptoms of Tiger Withdrawl.

Symptom No. 1: Who’s going to make me forget about him?

When they gather hard by the Irish Sea at the Royal Birkdale later this week for the 2008 British Open, the members of the PGA and European PGA tours -- or as we like to call them “The Field” – will have the rare treat of playing a major golf tournament without the overwhelming presence of the world’s greatest golfer.

This is the first time in 12 years that Woods will not be competing in one of golf’s four annual major championships. Not since the 1996 PGA Championships at Valhalla (46 consecutive majors), or shortly before the then 20-year-old Woods turned pro, have they contested a significant tournament without him. And as weird as it feels to begin with Life Without Tiger, I’m actually quite eager to see what lies ahead in this brave new and rather uncertain golf world.

I used to watch the majors mainly to see what sort of magic Tiger would produce. Now as we approach the Open championship and the foreseeable future without Woods – who is sidelined indefinitely as he heals from a knee operation -- I’m anxious to see if someone will take advantage of Woods’ absence and rise to the top of the game.

Over the past 12 years and those 46 majors, we used to play that little pre-major guessing game called “Tiger or The Field?” The object of the game was to decide who had a better shot at winning the major, Tiger or the rest of the field. Every time, I picked Woods, and with good justification because he won 14 of those 46 majors since turning professional. Now that there is no Tiger, just the field, I just want someone to step up and take control. I want someone to try and become a dominant force and make golf far more interesting than most of the sports world suspects it will be until the world’s greatest golfer heals and returns to his old domination.

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I want someone to step up. I want someone to get on center stage, capture all the lights, cameras and action and refuse to leave. I don’t really care who it will be, but I suspect I know who it won’t be.

It won’t be any of the usual suspects who have never managed to engage Woods in any meaningful challenges. It won’t be Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia or Ernie Els. They had their chances, and they failed to rise to the occasion. The contenders of the past were flashes in the pan, men who had everyone believing they could challenge Tiger, but never quite pulled it off.

So now we’re looking for something different. Without Tiger, it would be far more interesting if we didn’t have a bland, indistinguishable hash of golfers who traded places at the top. It would be far more fascinating if a new contender would emerge from among all the new kids on the block. What would be far more interesting, and vital to the popularity of the sport, is if one or two of the young bloods who are suddenly swelling in the pro ranks, would take over the sport or at the very least give us a compelling rivalry we could cling to.

Look at the profiles of the talented twentysomethings who have won titles on this year’s tour. Every one of them looks tantalizing. Every one of them is a gifted young talent that has a chance to build on their early career success. But we need something out of these young guns that makes LWT must-see TV. We need a compelling duel or two in the British Open, next month’s PGA Championship, and the fall showdowns in the Fed Ex Cup playoffs.

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