By Leonard Shapiro
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:56 PM

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.

"It will be six months, and six months always seems like an eternity, more so for Tiger Woods than anyone else. Trust me. It's harder for him to sit at home or do his rehab than it is for him to be out here competing, because what he lives for is not necessarily the media and the fans. He lives for being inside the ropes and he lives for the competition. He lives for winning.

"We miss that, and I don't get tired of it. I think only because I feel privileged to have been around him, to kind of be sort of his big brother, to understand what he goes through day in and day out and what he has to live under. I know he makes a lot of money and I know he's famous and I know he does all the commercials. I've seen it all. But you know what? I don't know how he does it, to be honest with you. You have to be special, and he is special."

O'Meara also knows this week's event without Woods in the field is "kind of semi-wide open, yes, but there are some other players yet to have won a tournament of this magnitude that are very talented and are probably going to be in the mix this week."

He didn't mention any names, but clearly he had to be referring to players like Sergio Garcia, who lost a playoff in the Open last year at Carnoustie and is the betting choice of the legal bookmakers in this corner of the world to win his first major title. Lee Westwood, another non-major winner, is probably England's best hope, particularly after finishing a shot out of the Woods-Mediate playoff at Torrey Pines last month.

Phil Mickelson, ranked No 2 in the world, would also be a popular choice now that he's come to his senses and put a driver back in his bag after leaving it out at Torrey Pines until he was hopelessly out of contention on the weekend. But Mickelson has played in 15 Opens with only one top-10 finish, placing third at Royal Troon in 2004, and last year he missed the cut at Carnoustie, still not fully recovered from a wrist injury he incurred practicing for the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Still, Mickelson is definitely worth wagering a few quid on, as is another semi-dark horse who wowed the galleries in the Nation's Capital with his swashbuckling panache and his play two weeks ago in winning the AT&T National. That would be 23-year-old Anthony Kim, winner of two of his last five tournaments, including the one at Congressional hosted by his own childhood idol, none other than Tiger Woods.

If Woods can't be here, Kim almost certainly would be Mark O'Meara's choice. He's also served in a mentoring role to Kim ever since they played together in a tournament last December. Kim has credited O'Meara, among others, with helping him get serious about golf after a rookie season of partying his way around the tour.

"When I left that tournament after playing three days with Anthony," O'Meara said, "I called a bunch of people, Tiger included. I said 'you know what, this kid is the best young player I've seen come along beside Tiger Woods.' He has the most skill, the most talent. He seems like he's got an attitude, but he's not afraid. So I'm not surprised to see what Anthony has done this year. He just doesn't have many weaknesses, and I think he's going to continue to grow and play. He's got all the skills to win a major championship."

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at Len.Shapiro@washingtonpost.com.