We have all talked about Tiger and if and when he regains his form. I still think he will and I still think he is the most talented golfer in the world and will regain his spot on top sometime next year. That being said, who is the top dog or who is the head mice that is playing while the cat is gone?

Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Jason Day, Nick Watney and a few others with no majors : Let me group all of these together. You cannot be the best golfer in the world without winning a major, plain and simple.

Martin Kaymer[ and Grame McDowell/b]: These two have not really been there since they one thier major. They have been inconsistent and has not shown me much, think Henrik Stenson in a small way, I don't think they will falter as bad as Stenson has.

[b]Rory McIlroy: Here is the big one. He has the major, has played great golf in the last two years of majors, except maybe last week. His comments about not liking "this" type of golf, referring to strong wind and sideways rain showed a little disrespect to the history of the Open Championship. IMO He basically said that last week and other opens with the same weather conditions are won by luck of the draw as to who gets to play in the worst of the conditions versus who does not. I think he was saying I would have won this past week if the weather was the same for everyone. Part of being the best in the world is dealing with adverse conditions.
I also believe that the best in the world has to have more than one major, so that we can eliminate the fluke win from the equation.

Charl Schwartzel: One major and a few other impressive finishes in majors. He may be a force in due time, but he is not #1 material yet.


Phil Mickelson: Despite a rocky season I still believe he is the best golfer in the world and should hold that position until Tiger regains it.

Good thoughts......there isn't one right now. Surprisingly bad play from guys like Westwood and Donald in the Open. Phil is a hall of fame player and had a nice tournament. Maybe he can win the PGA and solidify his position as the best player other than that guy who's not playing.
The fact is ........he is not playing....and whether he can come back and take over again is VERY up in the air . The thing he has going for him........are any of these guys any good ? Not many great players out there. Up to the young guys now......anybody great in that crowd ? I can start to believe a McIlroy.......anybody else ???? Dustin Johnson looks like Tom Weiskopf right now....good , but not a finisher. Not a lot of Major stars out there. Tiger gets it going a little bit and it should be open season in the big ones.

Yep, that is the real question, are any of these young players really great? I want Tiger to come back and have one more run of great golf so that we can really see who (if any) of these young golfers are the real deal as an elite pro golfer. I would hate to see any of these golfers when being talked about in the future always having that footnote that Tiger did not play, being included in the discussion.

You look at some of tham and wonder if they want to be great. BW's ugly American act in france and other seeming to hide from wanting to be there at the end. Until someone makes a run and wins 4 or 5 in a year there will continue to be discussions like this.

IMHO there is no 'One Best Player' right now. There are a lot of terrific talents, but until someone has the break out season, they are all just jockeying for position. Tom Watson was clearly a dominant player, but his reign more ore less ended after the 1984 season. For the next 15 years or so, there were several great players, chief among them Ballesteros, Norman, & Faldo. Those three all had great wins, and even great seasons, but I don't think any of them were ever head & shoulders The Best Player. Then came Tiger, and the other players knew that if he brought his A game it took some very heavy magic to beat him.

Good point bringing up the 84-99 time period, we could be stuck in that for a few years unless Tiger returns to form.

But still no great player in the non -tiger era. Phil is close though.