Not since Gulliver has a giant been so beset by the outrageous slings and miniature arrows of a pack of little people~!   Have all of the world's finest golfers been smitten by Beckham's Syndrome and given up golf  in favor of soccer?  Why can't the PGA Tour seem to field a reasonably qualified field of players?  The tour should offer Tiger Woods at least the illusion of a challenge on his march to overtake the Golden Bear's hallowed record of 18 major tour victories.

    Tiger got whipped by 3 no-name first timers this year in the Masters, the Open and the British Open and almost got caught by Woody Austin in the PGA.  Woody Austin?  The guy is a pure ball-striker but he's got more tics than a Lyme disease convention!   His post-PGA interview was absolutely surreal:  how does this guy find his way out of the house in the morning?   They must smear peanut butter on the doorknob or something.

    Ernie Els made a short run at the lead and then realized that he might be in contention and quickly rejected that idea.   It has been 5 years since Els backed into a playoff and hung on to win the British Open.  He has the killer instinct of a bed of kelp.  No one, especially Tiger, expected Ernie to sustain a challenge.

   Since Sergio (The Great Brown Hope) Garcia was forced to reduce his 15 waggle pre-shot routine, he has been a non-entity in major tournament play.   He finally got in position at the British this year but  his game looked like a pre-fab cardboard house on day 4 at the British Open :  "Please Fold Here."  Sergio has become the male equivalent of  Michelle Wie-his mis-signed card at the PGA seemed more like a plea to just  get off the course.  Probably more effective to fake an injury like Ms. Wie  to save your dignity-better to be thought of as a malingerer than a moron.

    Of course, John Daly had a run at the early lead.   While Daly remains an intriguing spectacle,  his whole saga is akin to a train-wreck:  you just can't avoid watching but that doesn't make it very pleasant.   Years of over-drinking, over-eating, over-smoking, over-gambling and trying to overdose on trailer park women has taken its toll on Johnnie Boy.   When he was young and relatively fresh at 25 he was able to keep his game together for 4 days to steal a victory at the 1991 PGA at Crooked Stick.  He has trouble making the cut nowadays.   If he doesn't get back to rehab, he will have a whole lot more trouble coming his way.

    The old saying in golf is "Its not how, its how many."  Well this latest Tiger win makes it 13 and it doesn't really matter who  the other contenders for this PGA crown were.   But just to refresh your memory, in order  following Woods, Austin and Els  were:  John Senden, Aaron Oberholser, Geoff Ogilvy, Simon Dyson,  Boo Weekly,  and Kevin Sutherland.   Can anyone outside of their immediate families recognize these guys?

     With Phil Michelson nurturing his injured crap-shooting wrist,  there really wasn't a serious contender for this title.  If the tour players can't mount a more serious challenge than this latest, pitiful effort , Tiger should just be allowed to phone in his next Major victory.  For Nicklaus's 13th victory at the 1975 Masters, he had to hold off Johnnie Miller and Tom Weiskopf and his last round mate, the young Tom Watson.    Is Tiger's march to surpass Nicklaus inevitable?  Not quite, but the munchkins posing as PGA tour players are certainly making it easier for him!