Stuart Franklin - Getty Images

I'd even rather see Tiger's terrible metal tipped snakeskin belt circa 2001 than this thing...

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Thousands of Americans woke up bright and early Sunday morning to watch the end of the final round of The British Open live, and, then, fairly soon after, thousands of Americans went back to sleep. With Phil never in it and Tiger well out of contention on Sunday, golf fans were left to hope that Paul Casey could make a run at the lead and keep it interesting - but by the time the last group made the turn on Sunday (or at least once they got through hole 12), the final result was a foregone conclusion.

South African Louis Oosthuizen won The Open at St Andrews used his impressively straight and long driving record over the weekend to win the Claret Jug going away by 7 strokes, carding a 16 under for the tourney. While Louis, a relative unknown on the world golfing stage, made for a nice story, the entire weekend experience for fans watching back in the states left a lot to be desired. Last year we had Tom Watson, and the year before it was Greg Norman, - big names of a past generation - who each stayed in contention at The Open through the weekend, which added an element of excitement and intrigue that was lacking at this years tournament.

Unfortunately, as an American golf fan, there still is very little that gets you stoked like seeing Tiger, decked in red Nike, charging through the back nine on Sunday at a major. Whether you love him or hate him - and I'm personally stuck somewhere in between - he is still the sports biggest draw and when he isn't near the top of the leaderboard it gets a heck of a lot less interesting. Of course any tournament won by a no-name foreign golfer by a landslide that airs at the crack of dawn is going to leave a bit to be desired, but this was the first time in a while I've been longing for a Tiger run just to make it interesting.