Golf - which I love, but am also kind of annoyed by

Before Tiger Woods's engorged cablinasia and the resulting Krakatoa of bimbo eruptions plunged the sport into crisis, golf shared some of the problems of tennis – specifically, the gutlessness.

The question is often asked, who is better - Tiger or Nicklaus? While Tiger is the most skilled, who does he play against? An army of Charles Howell the Thirds. This is what Nicklaus got - Arnold Palmer early on, in his early prime the likes of Gary Player, Lee Trevino, and Johnny Miller (all sharks), and in his late prime, Tom Watson. Then, in his twilight, he even managed to contribute to Greg Norman's earthly anguish when he snatched his last Masters. Then, think of how many times he finished in second place. Tiger can surpass Nicklaus's major wins, but who did he beat who can compare - as sharks and sportsmen - to any of those hard bastards Nicklaus beat and was beaten by? I want to answer Phil Mickelson, but seriously: a driver on the 18^th hole at Winged Foot and then trying to knock it on the green with a 3 iron from trampled rough, all to give us Geoff Ogilvy as U.S. Open champion. 

Phil has redeemed himself, but where are the great duels between him and Tiger? I only remember Tiger dueling Sergio, Bob May, Rocco Mediate, and Chris DiMarco in majors. They were fun, but not exactly the Duel in the Sun or Nicklaus/Trevino at Merion.

Though I root for Phil, the problem here is that there is simply too much money to be made by being Charles Howell the Third, a bland technician in a slow-moving, yet potentially dramatic sport, where personalities are a big part of the fun. And when your most intriguing personality is Tiger Wood, well... 

He's a putz.

The extent of Tiger’s wantonness was surprising, if only as a triumph of time management. But one anecdote related by his floozy Jamie Jungers, sadly, pulled back the mask on something about the man that fell sadly in line with my gut feeling about him: “When we’d go out for dinner, he never left a tip or he’d ask for the meal to be complimentary because he was ‘Tiger Woods” Tiger does not tip. The Waiter Rule is familiar enough - " a common belief that ones true character can be gleaned from how one treats staff or service workers." The floozies surprised -  finding out that t Tiger shits on the people serving him kind of wasn’t.

 
I’m just saying.