Life at the majors sure was different B.T. (before Tiger)

SOUTHPORT, England -- It will undoubtedly be a splendid week, with plenty of warm beer flowing while the fish and chips are frying. A gale might come in off the Irish Sea, or perhaps a heat wave will send the locals scurrying for bits of ice, longing for an invention called "air conditioning."

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AP Photo/Rick Rycroft

Tiger Woods has won 14 of 46 majors as a pro. In the 46 previous majors played before Woods started cashing paychecks for winning golf tournaments, Nick Faldo owned the most majors with six titles.

All of it is part of the charm that is the British Open, or, when it's called by its official name, the Open Championship.

But someone will be missing at Royal Birkdale, and it sure is going to be weird around here without him.

For the first time in 46 major championships, Tiger Woods will not be teeing it up in one of the four biggest tournaments of the year. You have to go back to the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla to find a major field missing Tiger.

Mark Brooks won that year's final major in a sudden-death playoff over Kenny Perry. Brooks had trouble remembering that Woods was not there. "Are you sure?" Brooks asked, trying to convince himself. "I know he started at Milwaukee. And he was in the Tour Championship."

Woods was 20 years old and still an amateur at the time of the '96 PGA, a few weeks from winning his third consecutive U.S. Amateur. He then turned pro, played his first event in Milwaukee, and went on to win twice in his first seven starts and qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship. He was named rookie of the year and Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year.

Top Rank

When looking at the top 10 in the world coming into the British Open, as compared with the last time Tiger Woods missed a major in August 1996, only the Big Easy -- Ernie Els -- had the staying power to make both lists.

Ranking	July 1996	July 2008
1.	Greg Norman	Tiger Woods
2.	Colin Montgomerie	Phil Mickelson
3.	Ernie Els	Adam Scott
4.	Corey Pavin	Geoff Ogilvy
5.	Fred Couples	Stewart Cink
6.	Nick Faldo	Ernie Els
7.	Tom Lehman	Sergio Garcia
8.	Jumbo Ozaki	Steve Stricker
9.	Nick Price	Justin Rose
10.	Mark O'Meara	Vijay Singh
-- See latest world rankings

And that was nothing compared with what followed. Playing in his first major as a pro, Woods won the 1997 Masters -- by a record 12 shots. You know the rest, the 14 major championships, 65 PGA Tour wins, perhaps the most exciting of which occurred just last month at the U.S. Open. Despite not having played since the Masters because of knee surgery, Woods hobbled around Torrey Pines and, after making a dramatic 72nd-hole birdie to tie Rocco Mediate and force an 18-hole playoff, defeated Mediate on the 19th hole a day later.

It was only later when we learned Woods had played with two stress fractures in his tibia, that his knee would need more surgery and he would be out for the rest of the year.

For many, it is difficult to remember what major championships were like without him.

Back when the '96 PGA rolled around, Greg Norman was the No. 1-ranked player in the world, despite his gut-wrenching loss to Nick Faldo at the Masters. Colin Montgomerie was second, Ernie Els third. Japan's Jumbo Ozaki, who is now 61, was 49 and ranked eighth. Phil Mickelson (who, by the way, has played in 56 straight majors, last missing the Masters in 1994), was ranked 13th. Tom Watson, at 46, was ranked 20th.

Steve Jones had won the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills earlier that same year, nudging past Davis Love III and Tom Lehman, who rebounded to win the British Open. Brooks defeated Perry at Valhalla to earn $430,000. How much have financial times changed since Tiger turned pro? Woods cashed a check for $1.26 million after his PGA victory last year at Southern Hills.

Brooks' win gave us a 15th different winner in a stretch of 16 majors -- with only Nick Price taking multiple titles during that period.

Woods, of course, has gone on streaks in which he won four in a row, seven of 11 and 14 of the 46 he has played as a pro.

Since winning his first Masters, Woods has been the perceived favorite heading into every major championship. Until now.

"There [were] always the tournaments with the stars and the tournaments without," Lehman said. "The difference now is when you're talking about the tournaments without the stars, they're talking about one guy. Back then, it included Faldo and Norman and [Fred] Couples and Love. There was a whole cast of characters, superstars. There were a bunch of guys the sponsors all wanted, a bunch of guys the media all wrote about.

Back In Time

It's been 46 majors since Tiger Woods sat one of the big ones out (the August 1996 PGA Championship). His looming absence at Royal Birkdale got us thinking … what was life like the last time Tiger didn't tee it up at a major?

	August 1996	July 2008
No. 1-ranked golfer	Greg Norman	Tiger Woods
No. 1 movie	"Jack" (but "Tin Cup" took the honors the next week)	"Hancock"
No. 1 song	"Macarena" (Los del Río)	"I Kissed a Girl" (Katy Perry)
Avg. price for gallon of gas	$1.01	$4.10
Presidential candidates	Bill Clinton, Bob Dole	John McCain, Barack Obama

"[But] there was nobody out there at that time where if I was in contention that I didn't feel I could beat. And I felt confidently that way. Not that I would win, mind you. I felt I had a great opportunity and a great chance to win and it was all up to me. I still believe that Tiger is beatable. If you didn't believe it, you wouldn't be playing. However, he is way more difficult to beat than most other guys." Who were the players to beat then? Norman, of course, but he was known more for his near-misses and hard luck than for domination. Monty, for a decade among the "best players never to have won a major," was in the midst of a seven-year run as Europe's leading money winner, but had not -- and still hasn't -- won an official event in the United States. At that time back in 1996, Norman, Faldo and Price were the only players ranked among the top 10 who had won multiple majors, and as it turned out, none would win another. You probably could not find too many people willing to take a wager on any of those players against the field -- as has often been discussed with Tiger. "I think there were a couple of guys who stood out," said Golf Channel analyst Frank Nobilo, who tied for eighth at the 1996 PGA, missing a playoff by 3 strokes. "Nick Price had been No. 1 in the world, Faldo was coming off a pretty dominant time, but nobody ever said it was a foregone conclusion like is so often said now. That is the complete opposite with Tiger. When Tiger doesn't win, it's because he doesn't play well." Woods played in six major championships as an amateur in 1995 and 1996, his best finish a tie for 22nd at the British Open won by Lehman at Royal Lytham & St. Anne's. Nobilo recalled watching Woods practice at the U.S. Open because he already had made quite a name for himself in junior golf. "You heard these stories, but I knew the quantum leap between amateur golf and professional golf," Nobilo said. "Everybody wanted to try and drive it like Greg Norman, who hit the ball on this jumbo jet trajectory. Tiger hit it lower and it didn't seem that impressive, to be perfectly honest.

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AP Photo/Ed Reinke

Mark Brooks claimed his only major title by edging Kenny Perry in a playoff at the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla, the host course for September's Ryder Cup.

"I don't think there was a single player who thought he would be this good. I've never ever seen a player develop so well. Then you look at the last five years. … He finds a way to get it done. It was never like that before." In the last 46 majors contested before Woods turned pro, there were seven multiple winners, led by Faldo with six and Price with three. Since Woods turned pro, he is one of six multiple winners; Mickelson and Vijay Singh own three major titles apiece, and Els, Mark O'Meara and Retief Goosen each have two. The staggering statistic: Woods has won more than double the number of majors of the most prolific winner in that 46-major period before his own 46-major string -- 14 to Faldo's six. "I don't think even he knew what he was going to do," said Mediate, who tied for 36th at the 1996 PGA. "I bet you he would tell you that -- 65 golf tournaments and 14 majors in 10 or 11 years. … I'm sure he knew how good he was, but really, it's just the most unbelievable record ever." The British Open will go on. Someone will take home the Claret Jug, his name etched in history. But Tiger won't be the main attraction at Royal Birkdale, and you wonder whether the warm beer will taste as good.