Under the radar

I groaned with the recent news of Tiger Woods splitting with his swing coach Hank Haney, on the heels of his withdrawl due to injury from the final round of the Players Championship two weeks ago. It's just the latest in what seems to be the all-Tiger coverage of the PGA Tour.

Certainly the events and issues surrounding the world's number one player are newsworthy in the golf world, including the recent injury and split with Haney. What concerns me is the golf media constant fanning the flames of the Tiger watch uses up all the oxygen for all the other compelling stories on the tour this year.

Stories that even a couple years ago would have gained attention in the more ordinary days of the Tiger era, many involving big name players, seem to be going unnoticed. So just for fun, here's my top 10 golf stories not about Tiger. I'm also going to leave out Phil Mickelson's win at the Masters, because while I'm a big Phil fan, in those rare instances when the focus shifts from Tiger, it seems to go to Phil, or more likely, to a story combining the two.

Honorable mention: All of these come under the category of marquee players who have finally returned to the winners circle after having been out for a while, a theme of the list that follows.

--Camillo Villegas, who won twice in the 2008 FedEx playoffs gets back on the board with a win at the Honda.
--Hunter Mahan who coming into 2010 seemed like he had more than one victory, gets his second at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
--Anthony Kim, like Villegas, a young gun who won twice in 2008 gets his third PGA Tour win at the Shell Houston Open.
--Adam Scott also gets his first win since 2008 this past weekend at the Valero Texas Open.

10) Winless since 2001, Robert Allenby appears to have overcome his putting troubles and has four top tens and two seconds this year including a hard-fought second to Tim Clark at the Players. He wears pink on Sunday in honor of his mother who lost her battle with breast cancer last year, and a win at the Players on Mother's Day would have been an incredible story.

9) Vijay Singh's struggles really began last year as he's battled injuries after winning the FedEx Cup in 2008. He's become such a fixture in the majors that it's almost unthinkable he's in danger of dropping out of the top 50 and might not have a guaranteed spot in the U.S. Open.

8) Ian Poulter gets his first win on U.S. soil with a win over fellow Englishman Paul Casey at the Accenture Match Play.

7) With Phil Mickelson in hot pursuit, Rory McIlroy torches the course and the field with a final round 62 for his first PGA Tour win at the Quail Hollow Championship. It comes the same day 18- year old Ryo Ishikawa shoots a 58 to win a Japanese Tour event in a statement day for two of the game’s youngest stars.

6) Tim Clark's win at the Players Championship was an impressive first-time win, and one long in the making for a player with an outstanding record in big tournaments -- almost hard to believe it was his first. A great performance on a tough scoring day though most of the attention went to the guy in 33rd place who had to withdraw due to injury.

5) Fred Couples collects a second and then three consecutive wins in his first four starts on the Champions Tour then tops it off by getting into contention on the weekend at Augusta.

4) While he'd never really reached slump status, Jim Furyk ended a three year winless drought with wins at the Transitions Championship and the Verizon Heritage.

3) Lee Westwood loses the lead at both the Masters and the Players Championship -- tough losses for a guy who gives a great interview.

2) Lorena Ochoa -- not the PGA tour, but a huge story with the women's tour's top player leaving the game in her prime. In fairness, this story was covered pretty well as it must have been a slow Tiger news week.

1) A fixture in the world golf rankings top 10 over the last decade Ernie Els had slipped to 17th at the end of 2009, but now leads the FedEx points race with two wins this year at Bay Hill and Doral. Though he had disappointing finishes at the Masters and the Players, it's good to have Ernie back in top form.

I don’t want this list to be perceived as anti-Tiger. I’m glad he’s back and wish him best as he deals with his personal life and his neck injury. But whether or not you agree with the order or contents of this list (I’m sure I’ve missed some), there’s a lot of other things going on this year on tour, and it would be nice to see more coverage of them.