FanHouse RoccoMediate

I love NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller but I'm also not a member of the PGA Tour. The former two-time major winner has a straight-talkin' approach in the booth, and it sometimes rubs the objects of his pointed comments -- the guys on the course -- the wrong way.

During the 1999 Ryder Cup, Miller suggested that Justin Leonard was playing so poorly he should go home and watch Sunday's matches on television. Never mind that Leonard would drain a 45-foot Cup-clinching putt. During that same weekend, Jim Furyk took exception at Miller's suggestion that he was an underdog in his singles match against Sergio Garcia.

The wait is finally over. Tiger Woods announced Thursday on his personal website that he will be in the field next week at the Accenture Match Play in Marana, Ariz., a tournament Woods won last year over Stewart Cink.

Golf is resting from a long, grueling season and rest it shall; it was a doozie of a 2008. We had some of the same old names winning consistently, some of the same old names losing consistently and a list of new golfers sure to find their way in golf conversation for years to come. Without further ado, here are your winners and losers of the 2008 PGA Tour Season.

Winners

Padraig Harrington -- With all respect to Tiger Woods and what he accomplished early this season, Harrington is our player of the year and for good reason. Padraig won two major championship in a row, making it three of the last six, and trying his best to accomplish what Sergio Garcia once said his goal was, to top both the PGA Tour money list and the Order of Merit in Europe. Harrington's second shot on the 17th hole at Royal Birkdale was one of the better executed shots of the year considering the pressure, setting up a Claret clinching eagle and repeating at the Open.

The reason Johnny Miller is still in the booth for most golf broadcasts is because he can make a non-issue a huge issue in about three words. He's upset Tiger Woods, called Rocco Mediate a "pool boy" and now is questioning the U.S. Ryder Cup picks days before the matches get underway.

Miller said yesterday he thinks Paul Azinger should have bypassed rookie J.B. Holmes, who will be playing in his home state of Kentucky and might very well be the perfect match-play partner with his long drives and streaky putting, for a more veteran player like Scott Verplank. Yeah, Verplank, who has been a good player in his two events but has never been on a winning team. Actually, he's never even been close to a winning team.

"I certainly wouldn't have gone with J.B. Holmes, I tell you that," Miller said yesterday in Louisville, Ky., where the Ryder Cup gets underway Friday.

Miller said he would have chosen Verplank, Mediate, Brandt Snedeker and 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson over Holmes and Campbell, but agreed that his views are like arguing over favorite ice cream flavors.

You know, Miller was an amazing PGA Tour golfer in his heyday with a decent Cup record of 2-2-2, but this is just ridiculous. You want to trade out a rookie that will draw huge American support for Mediate (never played in a Ryder Cup), Snedeker (ditto) or Johnson (1-1-1 in '06)?

Just a few months ago, golf was at its pinnacle. A rather unknown, Trevor Immelman, had battled the great Tiger Woods on his favorite course and beat him at his own game. Sergio Garcia had decided to toss that monkey to the curb, winning what some consider the "fifth major" at the Players and giving people hope in the Spaniard. Then came the incredible U.S. Open, that had the definitive athletic being, Woods, battling a guy that some thought should be cleaning his swimming pool, Rocco Mediate. Tiger needed every ounce of fight to beat Rocco, and as enjoyable as it was, we all knew even if Tiger won, we lost.

We had to watch Woods limp around the course, knowing something was wrong even when the news was uncertain. Golfers could sense with every wince and ache that this was the last time we'd probably see Woods in '08 after he had famously announced the Grand Slam was "easily within reach."

When Tiger announced he was done for '08, we all attempted to pump ourselves up for the rest of the season. "Oh, it won't be so bad, it will give someone else a chance to win." It was a weak attempt to lie to everyone that could hear it and after a wet British Open that had us rooting for Greg freaking Norman to win (would you ever imagine a more random situation at this day and age?) golf hit the skids.

For most players not making eight or nine figures in golf, the Ryder Cup is a huge honor, something most dream of participating in since they could first remember how to make a six-footer.

That is why having a chance and then just missing out is tough to swallow. Sports Illustrated's (fantastic, I might add) Alan Shipnuck seemed to be in an especially crabby mood when putting together one of his small columns this week for Golf.com. Shipnuck, author of the absolutely must-read "Bud, Sweat and Tees," had his targets set on Rocco Mediate, and it wasn't like he was just trying to maim the guy. This was an all out assassin job.

He says he's "extremely sad and extremely disappointed" at not being picked for the Ryder Cup. Dude, you had the chance (to) qualify on points like everybody else. You haven't won a tournament since 2002, and the U.S. Open - and a spot on the team - would have been yours if you made birdie on Torrey's cupcake 18th hole either Sunday or Monday, but you couldn't get it done either time. So shut your pie hole.

I mean, it's pretty harsh and a little extreme, but Shipnuck makes an extremely solid point. Putting your chances up to a captain's pick, especially when you're 45, isn't exactly rising to the occasion. You're playing Tiger Woods, you and everyone else with a smidgen of a brain knows you aren't winning any playoff and that putt gets you to Valhalla. You have to birdie 18 on Sunday.

No matter what you think about Tiger Woods, the one thing we can all agree on is his intmidation factor on the golf course. Just watching him on the television gets you a little out of your element.

His stare boars through walls, his fist pumps break into more senses than just sight and his build and distance almost blankets what his opponents are donig. I think it's safe to say Tiger bothers his playing partners.

Flash in the 2008 pan Greg Norman thinks even stronger about this. He thinks the opponents, especially the young lads, don't even give themselves a puncher's chance when Woods is lurking.

"This generation of golfers has just been whipped by Tiger. They go out there thinking that they can't beat him, so they don't."

Well, I think it is a little jab at the players but isn't this just fact? When people play with Woods, they're beat before they tee off, right? Who in their right mind was sitting around watching Rocco Mediate playing Tiger and thought, for a second, that Woods was defeated?

Notes from the tail end of the FedEx Cup run at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

Rocco Mediate charmed the pants off of America with his beguiling smile and tireless attacking of a one-ACL'd Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open. People knew who Rocco was before that, but they didn't love him. Now ... they freaking love him.

So it was great news for the Wyndham Championship when the two time former winner committed to come to Greensboro and play. He is, after all, arguably the second or third biggest crowd drawer in golf available (Phil's not playing and Tiger is injured), which is scary in it's own right, but important when you consider the Piedmont Triad's need for a big turn out.

However, if you've been following the Wyndham at all this weekend, you have likely noticed Rocco's absence from the field. From the press release last week:

Rocco Mediate, Angel Cabrera and J.B. Holmes have withdrawn from the Wyndham field, it was announced today. Mediate withdrew to spend time with his family

Aw. Well, that's nice and all, but Rocco's reason was later specified as "fatigue". So, not: "Family emergency." Which, frankly, is the only thing that should have kept him from competing in this tournament.

While skimming the recent Tiger Woods blog post on PGATour.com, an extremely scary thought hit me like that nightmare when someone takes out your family.

What if Tiger is never the same? What if Woods comes back and isn't the dominant figure we've grown to love on the PGA Tour? What if this knee surgery makes him an average golfer like the rest of them, taking away his ability to win tournaments like an 18-year-old in an elementary school dodgeball game?

All of these ideas came to me from one simple paragraph Tiger wrote.

I don't know what the doctors are going to tell me about playing golf down the road. I'm taking it day-to-day, week-to-week. All I'm doing every day is looking forward to my next day.

So you're telling me, Tiger, the near-billionaire with the trophy wife and an even better trophy case, and the huge yacht, and the private jet, and the pretty pearly whites is living like we live? He's human? He is just trying to get to the next day?

Normally, the PGA Championship is the major reserved for a newbie. They call it "Glory's Last Shot" because seven of the last 14 have been first time winners. Normally the one that bucks that trend is Elderick Woods, who, unbeknownst to the golf world, has handed the title of major champion king to an Irishman with a quirky smile.

Oakland Hills gave us everything, from floods to hole-in-ones to a marathon finish that ended with a putt you almost knew had to fall. Here are the winners and losers from a great week of golf at the year's final major.

Winners

• Padraig Harrington -- Wait, didn't I just write one of these? Harrington has now won three of the last six majors championships and has truly earned the nickname "Back Nine." A 32 at the British a month ago and a 32 on the closing stretch yesterday has Padraig with as many majors as Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh. Think he's taken advantage of the Woods layoff?