Pining at
Torrey
Life Without Tiger
Equipment: Mizuno’s New Iron Age ( 4)
Spander: Woods’ Banner Days ( 8)
Hewitt: It Wasn’t All Tiger’s Fault ( 12)
San Diego was supposed to have
been the first event of the year for
Tiger. Then came HydrantGate
followed by confessions of transgressions followed by the announcement
of an indefinite hiatus.
The whole sordid Woods business
and his self-enforced absence has cast
a pall over the PGA Tour and it was
painfully evident Sunday when Phil
Mickelson bogeyed the first three
holes and TV remotes all over America began clicking wildly as Tiger’s
heir apparent melted into the back
of the pack.
Sure there had been a mini-con-troversy over square grooves earlier
in the week. And John Daly, sounding as troubled as ever, threatened
to retire after he missed Friday’s cut.
Then, in a tweet, Daly threatened to
change his mind back. And even exciting rookie Rickie Fowler’s Sunday
charge stalled.
In the end a slow-playing journeyman named Ben Crane won the
tournament now called the Farmers
Insurance Open. Good for him. But
his relative anonymity served to underscore the vacuum left by no Woods.
The Tiger most of us thought we
knew is missed more than ever.
