The knee's fine - now let's play golf!

At the risk of repeating myself – Tiger’s return cannot possibly be compared with Ben Hogan’s on two counts:

1) The injury was nowhere near as severe (Hogan was inches from death), and
2) Newspaper accounts reveal that Hogan’s crowds at Riviera were huge.

After the fact – Hogan’s return was far more successful.

Having said that, it was great for golf that the best player in history (sorry Jack and Ben) is back.

Starting birdie, eagle after two magnificent iron approaches, there had to have been a collective “wow”. Sadly, from that point on it became more mundane. Jones wasn’t in the same class and never really factored. Tim Clarke, on the other hand, played the match of his life while Tiger was less sharp especially putting on the very slow greens.

Take nothing away from Geoff Ogilvie, who always looked in total control, but Paul Casey did not disgrace himself either, scoring some big scalps on his way into the final.

The highlight for me, however, was the play of teen phenom Rory McIlroy. The next generation of golf is here – of that there is no doubt.

One fact that stood out was the strong hand of the European Tour. The Ross Fishers and Oliver Wilsons are the quiet and hidden spearhead of that tour’s budding strength.

The format need some attention. Thirty-six holes for a final does not fit today’s “instant” audience. Reduce it to the excitement that 18 holes provides.

Additionally, the top seeds need to be around longer and as a reward for their higher rankings the tournament should adopt the World Matchplay concept of byes.

My suggestion: Expand the field to 80. Players ranked 17 to 80 (64) play two rounds to reduce the (qualifying) field to 16. Then reset the new field of 32 according to the Sony rankings.

Finally, Golf Channel’s Vince Cellini’s idea of staging the semi-final and the final on Sunday is an excellent one.