Hardin: Golf still bigger than Tiger Woods

http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/08/19/article/golf_still_bigger_than_tiger_woods

GREENSBORO — In the first week of golf after the fall of Tiger, the sport moves on. Only days after glory’s last shot, now comes the first ricochet.

We’re a day out from the Wyndham Championship as golf resumes its routine, a routine that was altered for the first time during the weekend when Y.E. Yang took down Tiger Woods in the final holes of the PGA Championship.

Fred Couples was there, and like many of the old-school pros who remember the old order of things, he simply doesn’t buy into all the hand-wringing.

“I think it showed how great Y.E. played,” Couples said Tuesday.

Couples was on a teleconference with Greg Norman and reporters from around the globe talking about the upcoming Presidents Cup competition, and, of course, the conversation darted all around the issues of the day. And eventually, it centered on the game itself in the days after Woods’ shocking loss to Yang in the season’s final major.

Couples was asked if there is a different feel to the sport this week. Has anything changed?

“Has anything changed?” he said, repeating the question. Then he paused a long time.

new-record.com
8/19/09