Was That Horrible Golf or What?

Well this is what golf fans and the media were wondering was gonna happen without Tiger Woods. Bad golf.

Bad golf was certainly on display at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational this past weekend. People moaned about the tour without Tiger and I remained optimistic that as long as we were treated to good golf, the story shouldn't suffer. Based on the level of play during Sunday's final round you can tell that these guys have made their money, and are pretty worn down from the season.

It was as if they just didn't care. After all, the WGC's are invitation only events in which there is no cut so it's a payout just for teeing it up. Or it was just practice rounds for upcoming PGA Championship.

Either way, it was seriously bad golf.

This is the first time this year that the tour suffered due to Tiger not being in the field. He usually doesn't play in events the week prior to major's but he usually plays in the World Golf Championships. One thing's for sure, he would have run away with this win because he seems to be the only guy who wants to win every time.

I get it, it's a long season, but you could see that they were just going through the motions and were looking at next week. It's not as if they're hurting for money so it was just hole out and get outta dodge.

The golf was bad and made it not fun to watch. Not to mention I'm a guy who can watch golf for days on end. Mickelson bogey's a few holes at the end to lose the tournament, Vijay (who won) couldn't make a putt longer than 4 feet and just about blew the tournament. As a matter of fact, he was 9-19 on putts between 4 and 8 feet, even missing an 18 incher on Saturday. US Open runner up Lee Westwood made a run at it but faltered on the last 2 holes.

Folks this was a course that was setup for low scores. It was there for the taking. Short rough, nice greens, pretty wide fairways. It's just that no one wanted it.

It's a bit of sour grapes that a 16 handicap (me) is bitching about the guys who shot 71 but there should have been a bunch of 64's.

We've been treated to some really good golf and some awesome stories too, even without Tiger. Kenny Perry resurrected his career and is gonna play the Ryder Cup in his hometown. Rocco Mediate can still bring it, as can Greg Norman. There was a David Duval sighting and Paddy Harrington hit 2 career shots in his final round of the Open Championship.

I guess it's a bit unfair for me to criticize but it was painfully obvious that they didn't want to be there. Stuart Appleby provided some good golf but it wasn't enough to overcome all the lousy golf. I also do understand that there is always lousy golf, we just don't see it because they're from the early tee times. But Sunday afternoon golf shouldn't ever be this bad.

Who knows when Tiger will even be able to return? Maybe it won't happen but maybe it will but more bad golf like Sunday's and golf will definitely lose a bit of an audience. Especially since their playoff's run into football season.

Are they just spoiled and don't care or do we chalk it up to the long season? Let's see your comments on this.