A few random thoughts:

* I’ve seen this movie before. Tiger gets a lead, and then the rest of the field wilts, while he marches on into history. It’s getting a little boring. There’s practically no reason to watch on Sunday since if Tiger is ahead we know who will win.

*While audiences now flock to watch TV when Tiger is in contention, I’ve got to believe that at some point teh reverse will be true. While he has been responsible for the boom in the PGA Tour, I think he also could be responsible for the loss of interest in it.

* The gap between Tiger and the rest of the field is enormous. They’re all playing for second place.

* Silly me. I actually thought Luke Donald had a chance. Or that someone in that group of guys within one or two shots of the lead would step up.

* Here’s an interesting Tiger stat: On par 70 courses, Tiger has one win in 16 starts; on par 71 courses, he has 1 win in six starts; on par 72 courses, 10 wins in 18 starts. I think what this tells me is that attempting to Tiger proof a course by making it longer just plays into the Striped One’s hands. I think this is further reinforced by fact that Tiger is so far ahead of the field in scoring on par 5s.

* All the talk is of how fast Tiger will pass Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors. I think the more interesting question is how long will he continue to play. I am reminded of Alexander the Great, who wept because he had no more lands to conquer. He then drank himself to death at the age of 27. Tiger’s not going to drink himself to death, but after he wins twenty five majors, I wonder about his desire to keep going.

* After he wins all the professional majors a dozen times, what’s next? Can he quit playing tournaments for six or seven years, live off his billions and then apply for reinstatement as an amateur? Then he could pass all of Jones’ titles, too.

* Shaun Micheel sure has an affiinity for PGA Championships.

* Where the heck was Vijay? Is he done?

* When I see Tiger play, I am amazed at the job that his father did in creating this golf genius. But then I wonder about what would have happened if it didn’t work out. What if he had consumed Tiger’s youth in golf training, only to have the boy turn out to be a five foot four inch shrimp. Or if Tiger had—as so many teenagers do—defied his parents and decided not to play. Some of you may remember a football player named Todd Marinovich. His father raised him from childhood to be an NFL quarterback.  He made it for a couple of years, but has since been convicted on drug and assault charges. As a father, I am not going to take a chance with my kids by steering them to something that I want them to do. I’m going to let them explore every angle and decide for themselves.

* At the end of the tournament, there was no change in Ryder Cup standings.

It’s going to be the Big Ten versus the Pac 10 in the final pairing at tomorrows PGA Championship final round. Luke Donald attended Northwestern; Tiger Woods attended Stanford.

Go Big Ten!

At this moment, there are ten players tied for first at the PGA Championship at eight under. All of the usual suspects are there.

It’s been a tense third round.

I called in to a local sports talk radio station today on a football question, and got in on their golf promotion. I picked a number between 1 and 34, and was assigned a trio of golfers. If any one of them wins, I get a gift certificate to a local pro shop.

I picked 32 and among my selections was Davis Love.

Needless to say, I’m now rooting for Love.

I really enjoyed watching the trio of Tiger, Phil and Geoff play today on the video streaming at pga pipeline. It was really refreshing to follow a group through their round, rather than see highlights as the tv commentators bounce from hole to hole. Those are the three players that I—and everyone else—wanted to watch, and the video streaming offered that opportunity.

The PGA site also offers other video streams—standard coverage an hour before television kicks in; a stream of interviews with playes as they come off the course; and analysis and instruction from PGA instructors. I didn’t watch any of the others today ... I was too interested in following the Big Two and Ogilvy.

I’m hoping that Phil wins this one and establishes what the Tour has lacked up to this point ... a real rivalry ala Arnold-Jack; Jack-Lee or Jack-Watson (geeze. Jack had a lot of real rivals, didn’t he). The point is, though, that Tiger needs a rival.

I hope that the Tiger-Phil-Geoff trio is featured again tomorrow.  But if it’s not, I’ll spend some time going through the other video links. In the meantime, they’ve also got highlights and interviews to stream.

I think that the PGA has really got something going here. The webcasts apparently are just the beginning of it’s online video efforts.