Golf Boring Without Woods?

Well, Mark Figueroa thinks so and since he didn't have anything better to write about for his column, that's the topic. It is a subject that has been beaten to death, but here are the highlights.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has got a serious problem on his hands. With his best player rehabbing a bum knee, Finchem's product really isn't a product anymore, not a sellable one anyway. Sure, the money's still there (for now that is) and so are the rest of the players. And the core fan base isn't going anywhere. But lagging TV ratings are sure-fire indicators that sans Tiger, nobody much cares about the little white ball or, more importantly, who's hitting it.

Golf without Tiger is like the Los Angeles Lakers shooting without Kobe Bryant, the Indianapolis Colts throwing without Peyton Manning or "American Idol" judging without Simon Cowell. It just doesn't work.

For the record, even with Simon Cowell, ratings are down this season for American Idol by double digit percentages.

Everything else just seems to pale in comparison.

It's not for lack of trying by the other guys. While Tiger has been away, there have been some intriguing storylines: down-home country boy Boo Weekley won the Verizon Heritage (again), Adam Scott won a rousing playoff in the Byron Nelson Championship, young gun Anthony Kim ran away from the field in the Wachovia Championship, Sergio Garcia redeemed his British Open meltdown with a playoff victory at The Players Championship, and Ryuji Imada outlasted Kenny Perry in a playoff at the AT&T Classic to earn his first career victory.

All good stories, yes. But did any one keep me glued to the television set ---- or awake? No.

Of course, this is just Figueroa's opinion. Some people have really enjoyed watching new guys win, including Jason Sobel over at ESPN.com.

The PGA Tour is deeper than the LPGA. This isn't exactly stop-the-presses news, but there is proof of a palpable difference in the amount of players who can win an event on any given week. Whereas Ryuji Imada became the sixth first-timer to find the winner's circle at the AT&T, the LPGA's Sybase title went to -- yawn -- Lorena Ochoa once again. Nothing against the awesome LoCho, but with wins in six of the 12 events this season, she's as predictable as flipping a coin.

As they say, different strokes for different folks.