Ranking the Major Championships

Tiger Woods won five times in 2009, but for the fourth time in his 13-year career, he was shutout in the majors. That may not be cause for concern for Woods, but it gives fans and the media something to talk about. It also makes the "How would you rank the major championships?" question a lot more interesting.

With only one tournament left on the PGA Tour calender, now seems like as good a time as any to make my case. Obviously, this will be a scientifically rigorous endeavor, and I hope that you would treat the results accordingly. Or don't. Whatever, let's get to it.

In reverse order, the most exciting majors of 2009:

4. U.S. Open, Bethpage Black

Woods won this event in 2002, the last time it was at Bethpage, and there were any number of attractive story lines for the week: Tiger because, well, he's Tiger; New York golf fans' love affair with Phil Mickelson; and the endless heckling by those same fans of a gripping and re-gripping Sergio Garcia.

Seven years later and Tiger was still the most important player in the field, Phil was still looking for his first U.S. Open victory (more than that, he was playing with the knowledge that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer the month before),and Sergio had lost the interminable pre-shot routine but had gained the title of Best Player to Never Win a Major.

Yet despite the potential for intriguing subplots to play themselves out, the weather became the story. The first round was postponed and the tournament didn't finish until Monday afternoon. Oh, and Lucas Glover won the thing. That's not to say he didn't deserve it -- he did because he was able to hold it together down the stretch while Phil, Ricky Barnes and David Duval faltered. It's just that the constant downpours interrupted any rhythm a typical tournament develops as it builds to a (climatic, hopefully) Sunday finish.

So I'm blaming this one on Mother Nature.

3. PGA Championship, Hazeltine

I'll be honest: I would have ranked this event lower than fourth had Woods held on to win Sunday. It's not that his March to 19 isn't the biggest story in golf four times a year, it's just that Tiger has so mastered this game that it's hard to get too worked up by his latest "no way that just happened" moment.

And unlike the 2000 U.S. Open where he blew the doors off the rest of the field, or the 2000 PGA where he outlasted little-known Bob May in a playoff, or even last year's U.S. Open when Woods peg-legged his away around Torrey Pines for 91 holes, the '09 PGA was, well, boring.

Woods was atop the leaderboard for the first three days, and after a Thursday 67, he did just enough to maintain the lead for the next 36 holes in the most unexciting manner possible. It didn't affect ratings -- people will tune in just to make sure they didn't miss something previously thought impossible -- but that didn't make it any more watchable after the fact.

And then Sunday happened, Y.E. Yang merrily made his way around the course oblivious to what he was in the midst of. To prove that point, on the 72nd hole, he smoked his hybrid approach shot from more than 200 yards to 10 feet before draining a birdie putt for good measure.

You might argue that Yang's outta-nowhere performance should elevate the PGA to a first- or second-place ranking here. I'd agree except for this: Tiger didn't even put up a fight. He finished bogey-bogey and spent much of the final 54 holes trying to stay out of his own way. Now if he had mixed in a few snowmen on his way to the clubhouse and played himself off the first page of the leaderboard in spectacular fashion, I'd reconsider.

2. The Masters, Augusta National

This was Kenny Perry's tourney to win. He led by two strokes with two holes to play, but finished bogey-bogey. Instead of Trevor Immelman helping him slip into a green jacket, Perry found himself in a playoff with Chad Campbell and Angel Cabrera. And two years after holding off Tiger and Jim Furyk at the U.S. Open at Oakmont, El Pato, against a different cast of characters, did it again at Augusta National.

The only thing more startling than Perry's late-Sunday collapse was how Cabrera's final round began. He spun his wheels early, going out in 1-over par. He then bogeyed No. 10 before carding three birdies on his final six holes.

If Cabrera's win was of the slow-motion, come-from-behind variety, Perry's loss was the opposite. It happened in an instant, and everybody -- including Perry -- knew it was over when he flubbed a chip on the 71st hole and couldn't get up and down on the 72nd. Sure, he still had the playoff, but as he stood on the tee box you sensed that he already knew his fate.

It made for slightly more captivating television than, say, Tiger pouting his way around Hazeltine while Yang methodically dismantled him.

1. British Open, Turnberry

I have no idea what the bylaws stipulate in terms of who qualifies for the PGA Tour Player of the Year, but if 59-year-old Tom Watson had won the British Open they should have given him the award on the spot. I'm not one for "instant history." In general, I like to take the long view when comparing amazing feats across eras. But I feel safe in writing that if Watson had somehow found a way -- just once -- to make an eight-footer when it mattered, I'd be the conductor on the "This is the most remarkable story of in recent memory" train.

And that includes Tiger's U.S. Open performance last summer. (Before you get all huffy, Watson didn't win so I don't have to argue that point. Which means that neither do you.)

But Watson missed the putt and headed to a four-hole playoff against Stewart Cink who, judging by the crowd, had exactly three fans on the property, all family members. (I should back up and mention that Watson has won five Open Championships in his career, including 1977, at Turnberry. Scotland has adopted him as one of their own.)

Still, Cink prevailed. Decisively. In fact, the old-timer charged with engraving the Claret Jug after the winner is determined got to work shortly after the two players teed off. On the first playoff hole, Watson hacked his way to a bogey while Cink made par, and the next three holes were an extended victory march. (Or farewell tour, depending on your perspective.)

The notion that a guy nearing his sixth decade on this planet almost pulled off the impossible against players half his age led to the predictable "golf isn't a real sport" vapidity. Call it what you want, but for me it's what makes golf great. I mean, prior to last week, I'm pretty sure nobody had Y.E. Yang staring down Tiger. It's the unpredictability that makes it compelling, that's the point.