Without Tiger or Phil, PGA tour winners are viewed as "nobodies"

I read a headline early this morning" Rose leads nobodies at Transitions". The Golf Channel ignores them as well with today's promo, " Watch the GC to see if red hot Nick Watney can make it 2 in a row"

However that is the way of the PGA tour right now, with their  2 main men (Woods and Mickelson) relegated to also rans, and with TV obliged to keep focusing on them no matter how mediocre their play, this is what happens.

Let me remind you of this years winners.. Jonathan Byrd, Mark Wilson (2), Jhonatten Vegas, DA Points, Johnson Wagner...These are the so called nobodies that are your story's week in a week out  now

The Masters is 3 weeks away and will always draw a big world wide audience, and with Tiger already installed by William Hill Bookmakers as the favourite to win, you can once again expect him to get all the attention, despite his indifferent play and also the salient fact that he hasn't won it since 2005 which was before Augusta made all it's changes which have as one wag put it deTigered the course.

So will he or Phil win or will it be another nobody, like Mike Weir, or Trevor Immelman, or Zach Johnson, or Angel Cabrera.....

Those of you who have listened to me on Fairways, or read my stuff know that I have been beating this drum forever. Constantly ignoring all the other great story lines that unfold each week until they have to (ie tiger or Phil 10 shots back on Sunday afternoon) means that the media and in particular TV, leave themselves wide open for the disastrous ratings drop that they are so desperately trying to avoid when the big 2 are not in the picture, leaving it to another nobody to win

Here is the Doug Ferguson story on what is actually happening this week

PALM HARBOUR, Fla - Justin Rose knew he was playing better than his score through the first 27 holes of the Transitions Championship. It wasn't long before he was proven correct.


Rose ran off five birdies on the front nine Saturday and wound up with his second straight round of a 6-under 65 at Innisbrook to take a one-shot lead over Brendon de Jonge and Webb Simpson.

A 6-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole put Rose at 13-under 200 — one shot off the 54-hole tournament record — and his one-shot lead looks even more daunting considering the guys chasing him.

De Jonge and Simpson have never won on the PGA Tour. Neither have the two guys another shot behind — rookie Scott Stalling, who only made his first cut in the big leagues last week in Puerto Rico; and Gary Woodland, who lost in a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic this year.

Rose won his first two PGA Tour events last year at the Memorial and AT&T National, and knows what to expect from his emotions.

“It doesn't mean it's all going to go smoothly tomorrow,” Rose said. “You have to be ready for whatever happens. But at least I kind of am aware of the ups and downs, and the things I'm going to face. And I think that maybe it's a lot easier to deal with.”

Then again, even consecutive 65s is not enough to feel comfortable on the Copperhead course.

Simpson, whose wife recently gave birth to their first child, kept pace with Rose for much of the day until dropping shots on two of the tough par 3s on the back nine. He still had a third straight 67.

De Jonge earned a spot in the final group with a steady round of 66.

Nine players were separated by only three shots going into the final round, and while most of them don't have Rose's winning experience, there is a name that is hard to ignore. Nick Watney, coming off a World Golf Championship title last week at Doral, had seven birdies in his round of 65 and was in the group at 10-under 203 with Brandt Snedeker, who shot a 67.

Garrett Willis and Chris Couch, the co-leaders after the second round, each shot 70 to fall back, although they were still in the mix.

Sergio Garcia finally made a bogey in America this year — it's his first PGA Tour event since last August — and then made four more in a round of 72 that most likely left him too far behind. He was six shots back.

PGA champion Martin Kaymer, the No. 1 player in the world, had a 71 and was nine shots behind.

Bryan Angus