Anyhow, Mickelson lost Northern Trust Open in a playoff. Check out the video of the shot after the jump. 

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Woods had never gone three calendar years without winning a Major…until now. He had never gone 14 straight Majors without a title…until now. He hasn’t finished in the top 3 of a Major in two-and-a-half years. He was once virtually invincible to Phil Mickelson; now Mickelson pairs with him and beats him by 11 strokes in one round. That red shirt Woods wears on Sundays is now little more than a symbol of frustration.

What a terrible string of mistakes he made leading up to his collapse. The circumstances leading up to the night his wife attacked him with a golf club appeared to be those of a Jekyll and Hyde. Unfortunately, it seems Mr. Hyde has permanently taken over the golf great’s club swing.

Will this be the year of the Tiger? I doubt it. While I remain a big fan of Tiger Woods, it’s tough to see him pulling together even four days of golf good enough to win just one of the four Majors this year. It could happen. But whereas four years ago we were conditioned to believe he would win in the end, we’re now conditioned to expect him to lose. And, I have to believe, so is he.

Now the sport of golf’s biggest problem is showing itself: The lack of a star other than Tiger Woods. Mickelson has tried over the years, but he simply hasn’t drawn the TV audience and fanbase that Woods has. The last seven Majors have all been won by a different person, and each one of them winning a Major for the first time. In fact, 10 of the last 12 have been won by one-hit-wonders. Keegan Bradley? Louis Oosthuizen? Charl Schwartzel? It’s hard to believe these men will be the answer to the Tiger void.

I’ll be cheering for Woods at the Masters this spring. But the hope and expectations that once went hand-in-hand with that enthusiasm are now gone.

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On the flip side, all of these first-time winners represents the fact that there are no other great golfers out there. In the last 12 years, only two men other than Woods have been able to win more than two majors: Mickelson (4) and Padraig Harrington (3). Still, Woods has won only two of the last 15.

Too early to stick a fork in him? Maybe. But the fact of the matter is, he’s not swinging the club well. He’s not putting well. He may win the PGA Championship, still may break Jack Nicklaus’ Majors record (18). But the idea that he is this unstoppable force has at least been put on hold for a couple years. Whether it’s been put to bed remains to be seen.

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But to me, this U.S. Open will long have a big question mark over it because of the rain in the first two days and how the tournament organizers handled it. Of the top five finishers, none had to golf in the rain on Thursday, and the earliest Friday first-round tee time for any of them was 10:33 a.m. In fact, the only person to not finish over par and tee off on Thursday was Tiger Woods. On the flip side, while three more players got to start on Friday instead of Thursday, 58% of the players cut after the second round had to start in the rain on Thursday. Twenty of the 26 worst scores in the first two rounds were from players who had to play the poor conditions on Thursday and early Friday. The average first-round score of those who started Thursday was a full two strokes higher than those who didn’t.

One of my friends who played golf in college said “that’s golf.” No, it doesn’t have to be. Weather doesn’t have to play such a big role and be such a big disadvantage for players who got unlucky with their tee time. Can you imagine if they told Roger Federer that he had to play in the mud while his opponent got to play on a dry surface?

Unfortunately, the golf powers-that-be feel the need to get the tournament completed by Sunday, so they force players out in terrible conditions knowing not everyone will have to go. And what happens in the end? They go to Monday anyway. Change the rules! Be smart about when you send people out. And if some players have to play in the rain before the horn blows, figure out a tee-time system that will send the rest of the players out first the next morning so they have to play in the mud of the early morning. There are creative solutions golf can implement that will make the playing field more fair. But, the sport that prides itself on tradition above all else will keep up the unfair practice.

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