Former nobody Louis Oosterhuizen parlayed some prodigious driving, nerveless putting and crazy good luck with the weather to run away with the 2010 British Open. The guy led for the last 2 -1/2 days and looked like Old Tom Morris with modern clubs. The Americans were unable to put together anything like a substantial run, most notably Tiger and Phil The most compelling U.S. performance was turned in by a guy wearing the flag on Sunday, John Daly.

While Oosty played like a guy who can win multiple majors, not many people were around to see it. The combination of odd hours and an unknown running away from the field led to low ratings for the event. This is more bad news for the game. All sports need an empire to root for or against. The Yankees, the Lakers/Celtics, the Patriots; these are the hubs the their sports revolve around. if you're lucky, you have two of them and you get to serve up rivalry every so often.

Golf needs Tiger to be Tiger, and what we have currently is Eldrick. He will certainly be very good again, but dominance is in question. The speed bump for him now is putting, and putting is in many ways an extension of personal confidence. Tiger is still regaining his personal confidence and when he gets it back, the putts will drop and we'll say goodbye to Eldrick and welcome back to Tiger.