O'Meara Back at Birkdale Without Buddy

SOUTHPORT, England - If Tiger Woods couldn't make it to the 137th British Open this week at Royal Birkdale, Mark O'Meara's presence on these storied grounds, hard by the Irish Sea, will simply have to do.

You remember O'Meara at Royal Birkdale 10 years ago, when he sat at the 18th green and watched virtual unknown Brian Watts make a miracle bunker shot to a tap-in par at the 72nd hole to force a four-hole, aggregate score playoff. O'Meara then began with a birdie and won the playoff by two shots, his second major title of the season after also taking the '98 Masters.

Woods finished third at Birkdale that year, missing the playoff by a shot. This year, he will not be in the field as he begins rehabilitating his surgically repaired left knee. But O'Meara, who now mostly plays on the Champions Tour, has come back to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs and will tee off Thursday, eligible to play as a past champion.

He also played another role earlier this week, coming in to the media center ostensibly to reminisce about his 1998 victory. Instead, he mostly talked about his friend and Orlando neighbor, Woods, a young man he first took under his wing when Woods turned professional in 1996. He's played the doting big brother role ever since, and spoke at length about Woods's dramatic impact on the game over the last dozen years.

"I'm not a huge historian of the game," O'Meara said," but 11 years ago if we sat in this room and said hey, there's going to be this golfer that's going to come along and 11 years from now, he's going to either be the most famous athlete in the world or one of the most famous, we'd all look at each other and say 'you're nuts. A golfer being that famous. No way.' And sure enough, here we go.

"To watch what he's doing and how he conducts himself is pretty amazing. He's not perfect. He gets upset once in awhile and this and that, but overall you'd have to say he gets high marks and has done a phenomenal job...This championship is going to sorely miss Tiger. But on the other hand, this is a great opportunity for some of the other players to step up now and some other players to move forward."

Still, O'Meara added, Woods's absence this week should not take away from the oldest major championship in golf, nor should it in any way diminish the accomplishment for the player who leaves this seaside resort town with the Claret Jug in his possession.

"As great as Tiger Woods is," O'Meara said, "and as much of a fan as I am of Tiger's, and I know what he's meant to the game over the last 11 years, I think even Tiger would have to admit this: No player, no matter who it is, is bigger than the game itself, not even Tiger."

O'Meara was one of the few people in Woods's inner circle who knew all about the extent of his friend's knee problems long before the initial surgery two days after finishing second at the Masters, and his reconstructive knee surgery a week after he won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in a dramatic 19-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate.

"I knew how bad it was prior to the U.S. Open," O'Meara said. "I knew how bad it was at Augusta but we couldn't really say, even though there was so much speculation out there and most of the speculation was wrong. He's going to be missed, there's no denying it. And I know how badly he wants to be playing it."

O'Meara said Woods is just "hanging out" back home in Orlando and "can't do much of anything. He can work out a little bit but he's got to be careful. As long as he does what the doctors tell him to do...if he does that, he'll be fine. He'll come back as good or better than ever. He's been a hurting camper, he really has. You never know what one's pain threshold is, but if he says (his U.S. Open win at Torrey Pines) was his greatest victory of all time, you'd have to take him for his word."

The Park City, Utah, orthopedic surgeons who repaired Woods's knee are both good friends of O'Meara, who also has a home there. He said they both told him they were "totally convinced he'll be better than he has been for the last eight years. That might not be good news for the rest of the players on the tour, but come January, he'll be ready to go.