Sports Commentary
Right about now, ABC should be hiring a team of sports psychologists, massage therapists and personal trainers, hustling them on a plane to Denver and sending them to David Duval's house. The network has the British Open next month, and the Open has no Tiger Woods. Duval looks like the best possible remedy for that grave ratings impairment.
Faces to Know
Charlie Riedel, APWith Tiger Woods out of action until next year, PGA events won't quite be the same. However, if you're still watching the tournaments, here's some guys you can watch instead.
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Imagine him making a run at another Claret Jug, the only major trophy in his collection, after six years off the golf map. Inconceivable? Of course. That's what makes the idea so compelling.
Duval, now 36 and ranked 978th in the world, would be one of the greatest comeback stories in history if he could even contend for a major. As the 2001 champ, he has an exemption into the British Open, so he can play if he wants. He didn't try to qualify for the U.S. Open, perhaps because the highest finish he has had this season was a tie for 60th at the Stanford St. Jude tournament. That wasn't just his highest finish; it was the only one. He missed the cut at nine other events and withdrew from a 10th.
Duval had a better time in 2006, making the cut at both Opens, but family trouble knocked him out for most of 2007. His wife, Susie, was on bed rest for the final months of her pregnancy, and Duval took time off to be with her and their four other children (three from her previous marriage).
It's a fairly heartwarming story all on its own. But throw in what a cantankerous, arrogant jerk Duval was in his prime, when he shot a 59 and routinely stalked Tiger, and you've got great theater. A man reborn, finding love, acceptance and his way out of the rough. Now that Woods' knee has knocked him out for the season, golf needs this kind of drama.
I could cite all of the ratings statistics that reveal what Tiger means to the game, but they're old news. Besides, the issue isn't just that TV needs Woods. It's that the public needs more brilliant golf. The U.S. Open triggered addictions that must be satisfied. It was "The Sopranos" meets "Sex and the City" and "American Idol." It demands a sequel.
Now the question is how to pull it off without Tony, Carrie and Simon.
Rocco Mediate could help here. If he contended at the British, I wouldn't take my eyes off the screen. He was the perfect foil for Tiger at Torrey Pines, so happy and hyper that even Charles Barkley, a longtime Woods buddy, admitted he was rooting against the king.
What if the 45-year-old with the bad back and the goofy grin actually got his first major win a month after losing that epic 19-hole playoff to Woods? Or got into the hunt at the PGA in August?
Picture him and Sergio Garcia, the 28-year-old swashbuckler with the stalled career, in a Sunday battle for one of the titles. Or Garcia head-to-head with Phil Mickelson. Or Mediate and Duval defying all odds and making the Ryder Cup team in September. Tiger-free golf won't seem quite so bad then.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson putt on the third hole over looking the Pacific Ocean during the first round of the US Open championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course on Thursday, June 12, 2008 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
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Tiger Woods (L) and Rocco Mediate fill out their scorecards after the 18th hole during the playoff round of the U.S. Open golf championship at Torrey Pines in San Diego June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Rick Wilking (UNITED STATES)
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Tiger Woods' wife Elin Nordegren watches play during the playoff round at the 108th U.S. Open golf championship at Torrey Pines in San Diego June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES)
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Tiger Woods hits from the 14th tee during the playoff round at the 108th U.S. Open golf championship at Torrey Pines in San Diego June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES)
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Tiger Woods looks over his shot to the 12th hole during the playoff round at the 108th U.S. Open golf championship at Torrey Pines in San Diego June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES)
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Tiger Woods tips his cap after parring the 10th hole during the playoff round at the 108th U.S. Open golf championship at Torrey Pines in San Diego June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES)
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Tiger Woods' wife Elin Nordegren watches play during the playoff round at the 108th U.S. Open golf championship at Torrey Pines in San Diego June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES)
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Tiger Woods holds his daughter, Sam Alexis, after winning the US Open championship in a sudden death hole against Rocco Mediate following an 18-hole playoff round at Torrey Pines Golf Course on Monday, June 16, 2008 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
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Tiger Woods holds his daughter, Sam Alexis, as his wife brushes aside her hair after Woods' win the US Open championship in a sudden death hole against Rocco Mediate following an 18-hole playoff round at Torrey Pines Golf Course on Monday, June 16, 2008 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
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Rocco Mediate takes a drop on the seventh and sudden death hole following an 18-hole playoff round for the US Open championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course on Monday, June 16, 2008 in San Diego. Tiger Woods won the US Open championship over Mediate. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
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Granted, the value of the next two majors might be discounted in his absence, but the size of the discount really depends on the quality of the golf.
The reason Torrey Pines resonated so deeply is that the game itself could not have been more exciting. First, we had Woods' two eagles and crazy bunny-hop birdie on Saturday. The footage of him in the bunker, scratching his head and laughing after the ball jumped into the hole, will be replayed for years to come. In fact, it's the lead picture in his Web site's gallery from the tournament.
Then there was the scene on 15 during Monday's playoff. Instead of, as he said people expected, "getting my ass handed to me," Mediate had erased Woods' three-shot lead and put an unprecedented look of distress on the legend's face. Then, hitting out a bunker on an entirely different hole (No. 9), Woods put the ball within 6 feet of the pin on 15. Mediate saw it and said: "Wow."
At that point, he should have caved, out of sheer intimidation. Instead, Mediate knocked a 20-footer into the cup for birdie and took a one-stroke lead.
Woods' presence clearly inspired Mediate. Perhaps his absence will motivate Garcia, ever the prince-in-waiting, and Mad Scientist Mickelson to calm down and play with more poise and discipline. Mickelson tried to re-invent his game yet again at Torrey Pines, refusing to carry his driver for the first two rounds. This might be the perfect time for him to stop over-thinking and just play the $%# game.
But the clincher would be a Duval comeback. In his prime, he really had game, and his dissolution is a reminder of just how unforgiving golf can be.
Mediate's sudden emergence at Torrey Pines offers some hope for Duval. Rocco had missed the cut in or withdrawn from more than half his events this season, and he had finished higher than 36th only once -- a sixth place at the Memorial two weeks before the U.S. Open.
Besides, anything is possible, because the landscape has changed so dramatically. At the Open, Woods was everywhere. On the driving range, when the leaders warmed up Sunday, a large-screen TV played footage of Woods from the day before, Woods in a commercial, Woods from the opening round.
Letting go of all that, the hype and reality of Tiger Woods, will be hard. At least, he helped make the addiction bigger than himself before he left.
Gwen Knapp is a sports columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle.
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