Tiger refused to answer the question, but the seed was planted. Lacking any other obvious story line, people were actually pondering that scenario. Then like some terrible sociology class experiment, the idea turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Tiger Woods lost his fourth major of the year. So now he's exactly like every other chump who held the lead on Sunday and folded like a cheap suit.

Isn't it funny how no one ever gets beat in golf? The story line of most of those 14 wins was usually not about Tiger outplaying his opponent—which he did—but how his "mental toughness" put the "pressure" on the challenger forcing them to "wilt" and "fade." It can never just be that he swung the little sticks better than someone else. Golf is a mental war that requires there to be casualties. Since no one plays defense, if you don't win you have no one to blame but yourself.

So at least everyone is being consistent. (Even the hero worshipers.) Sure, it was tough for some people to admit the Tiger Woods could be the choker, but they came around, because that's the way golf works. The guy who won? Yeah, he's okay I guess. But Tiger blew it. Y.E. Yang was not the winner. Tiger was the failure. It was his fault. What a loser.

Yet, still not the worst choke job of the weekend. That's goes to the Irish bookmaker that called the PGA Championship on Saturday morning—before the third-round even started—and paid out all their bets to those who had Tiger Woods to win. Savvy.

The Yin and the Yang: Woods Choked [Jay Mariotti]
Believe it or not: Tiger loses lead in major on final day [CBS Sports]
Bookmaker loses 1.5m euros after Tiger Woods USPGA collapse [Daily Record]
Tiger Woods showed how hard it is to win 14 major championships by losing one [Golf]

Holy crap, this has been some crazy golf, if in fact you believe that golf can ever be classified as such. Sergio and Paddy have alternated between brilliant and befuddled, while Curtis, the only man who can keep the Euro's 77-year tournament winless streak alive, has remained equal one hole behind.

What an incredible trip down the 18th hole for the tournaments penultimate pairing. After picking up a birdie on the par 3 17th Paddy's layup attempt on found deep rough, but the ball sat up, albeit against the thick grain. However Sergio also struggled with the course's toughest hole, leaving himself with an awkward second shot on the bank of a fairway bunker. His approach found the bunker, and Harrington put himself in a position to win with a par. When the pressure was on, Harrington nailed another crucial putt to at least assure himself of a playoff if Curtis could somehow hole out.

Needless to say, Sergio missed his par putt and everybody had a fun little flashback to the '07 British Open. You know, the one where Sergio totally fucking blew it. No not that one, the other one. Yeah, that's the one.

Honestly, I was kind of hoping Sergio would finally get off the schneid when it comes to the majors, but it looks like Harrington will win his second in a row after successfully defending that Open title. Players like Paddy show exactly why golf doesn't always need Tiger for thrilling fan-friendly competition, but the galleries were a bit sparse.

And it's officially over for Ben Curtis, leaving Padraig Harrington the winner of his third major. Just don't tell this guy...

Players to Watch: I’ll tell you who’s not going to win it…Paddy Harrington. Why? Because he’s not really THAT good, how’s that for starters? Sure, he’s a multiple major champion and a genuinely cool dude... but he doesn’t have the overall game of other Euro’s like Sergio and Lee Westwood.

Dagger.

In all seriousness, and fairness to Sergio, he is a hell of a golfer who will win that major one day. In the meantime, he remains the best player in the world without one.

Bad MS Paint by Flubby

The first players are finishing their rounds at Oakland Hills Country Club outside of Detroit. Somewhere on his island kingdom in Florida Tiger Woods is not even bothering to watch. Meanwhile golf fans who are stuck at their desks would do anything to be able to skip out of work and listen to the dulcet tones of Ernie Johnson and Benjamin Franklin/Verne Lundquist on TNT. So far two people you've never heard of are in the clubhouse at -2, Robert Karlsson and Jeev Mikha Singh.

If you've been watching at all you know how miserable the rough is. Any shot that isn't in the fairway is a complete disaster. Prior to teeing off some called it the hardest course they'd ever seen. Even still, the weather is perfect, and the scores haven't been bad. Unless you're Bradley Dean and you put up an 86 +16. Ouch.

Other notables that are hanging around the top of the leaderboard include: Sergio Garcia at -1, the newly svelte Phil Mickelson at even (in typical Phil fashion with five bogies and five birdies), Anthony Kim at even, and, even though he's only through five holes, Padraig Harrington is already at -3. John Daly is sober and at even par through four holes.

PGA Championship Leaderboard [CBS]

But when it comes to golf, we find that almost no one roots against Tiger Woods. This makes sense; the average sports fan has no idea who Stephen Ames and Woody Austin are, so we're not so much rooting against them as we are rooting for history. Spending your entire Sunday watching some anonymous Oklahoman win his first a golf tournament can be perceived as a waste of time; watching Tiger Woods come within six majors of Jack Nicklaus is simply viewing history. In the airport coming back to New York yesterday, we sat in a Wolfgang Puck's and watched the final six holes of the PGA Championship. At least 10 people stopped, stood behind us and asked "How's Tiger doing?" All sports need stars, even if they're stars we hate. And we don't hate Tiger Woods.

Of course, it's now eight long months until the next major. (It's so long away that we will have crowned a World Series champ, a Super Bowl champ and an NCAA Tournament champ by the time golf has its next major.) So you may now commence returning to not caring about golf for a good while.

The world of golf is always more entertaining with Daly around.

"There were odds with all the caddies and players this week (about) who would fall first: me or my caddie," Daly said after an outstanding round that he couldn't really explain. "I only had three heat strokes out there — honestly, I can't remember."

"Didn't play a practice round this week because it was too hot," said Daly, who also willingly joked of his, um, fitness, "I always weigh too much and probably didn't lose any because I didn't drink one bit of water. I had Diet Cokes, Diet Pepsis."

We wonder how he'll celebrate if he wins.

By the way, for those interested, we've been enjoying Jasons Sobel's PGA blog at ESPN; nice way to follow along.

Tiger Woods hasn't won a major all year, and he's kind of due. Is he gonna do it? Because we know nothing about golf — except that it's a waste of so much land; sorry — we, as always, have asked Shane Bacon, purveyor of the Dogs That Chase Cars golf blog, to preview the big tournament for us. The tournament is taking place in the United States, so it's freaking hot.

After the jump, it's Golf In A Box.

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It would be hard to understand how weird 2007 would be if Tiger Woods finished without a major title.

A pit bull owner not buying a Michael Vick dog toy? Jim Carrey making a funny movie for a change? Zach Johnson joining the Church of Scientology?

The Freak has finished out of the top 10 as many times (four) as victories in only 12 starts. The Machine has as many titles this year as Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson combined in 27 less tournaments. The only thing Mr. Now is missing is what is on the platter this week at Southern Hills Country Club.

The PGA Championship is the Golden Globes of major championship golf, something that everyone would love to win but will never rank up there with an Academy Award. The Green Jacket, a U.S. Open crown, the Claret Jug or the Wannamaker Trophy - this would definitely be the Baltic Avenue of the major championship Monopoly board. Nonetheless, the winner gets to add his name to a list that includes the great Wayne Grady and Rich Beem, and still holds a five-year exemption that will allow even the most far-fetched major winner (no offense Mr. Daly) a chance to rack up a lifetime of checks.

According to Southern Hills history, the winner will be somebody you've heard of. Guys like Tom Lehman, Roy Floyd, Tommy Bolt and Billy Mayfair have stood out in Tulsa, and this week should buck the 2007 trend of first-time major winners. The last time the big boys teed it up at this venue was the 2001 U.S. Open, where Retief Goosen decided four days of golf in extreme humidity just wasn't enough, and wanted another day to put his mark on the golfing world.

If you are looking for a dark horse, maybe go with someone like Ernie Els, who had a nice finish at Carnoustie and could be finally making that comeback that some have been waiting for longer than a successful Cubs season. If you have a brain a centimeter larger than Deion Sanders, you will probably pick Tiger, just because of his dominance last week at the Bridestone and the fact that he might have won a major or two in his career. If you have some chutzpah, you might rest your chips with Hunter Mahan. The kid went to school in Oklahoma and has been feasting as of late on the PGA Tour's dime. If he gets out early, it might be hard to lasso him back to the field because of how well he hits the ball and how cool his semi-mullet makes him look.

Picking the winner might be tough this week, but one thing that should be a formality - Schmickelson will be slamming his truck mighty earlier than expected. If you're into golf, enjoy this weekend because after this it is a long hibernation until Augusta calls.

The Mets are more likely to lose the NL East than Tiger Woods is to lose this tournament. Jared Lorenzen is more likely to win the NFL's MVP Award than Tiger Woods is to lose this tournament. Mike Cooper is more likely to be hired as a kindergarten teacher than Tiger Woods is to lose this tournament. I don't know how to make it any clearer.

Tiger just finished up his front 9 with a tidy little 32. And not only is he sticking everything, no one else is really making a run. Adam Scott is 5-under on the day, but he started too far back. Mike Weir has been steady and consistent, -2 on the day, and the closest to Tiger right now at four back. Luke Donald... well, Luke Donald just isn't cut out for this sort of thing.

UPDATE: Yeah, he won.

2006 PGA Championship Leaderboard [PGA.com]

Depending on how you look at it, there are either a bunch of guys still in contention, or a bunch of guys who are going to have a pretty good view of Tiger dropping the hammer on everyone in the vicinity. Mike Weir, Geoff Ogilvy, Shaun Micheel and Sergio Garcia are still right there, within a few strokes. Even ol' FIGJAM is just six strokes back.

Coverage resumes on CBS tomorrow at 2:00.

Full Leaderboard [PGA.com]