Monday Qualifier

When Tiger Woods was king, the golf world had order. He was No. 1 and nothing else mattered. Then a rogue fire hydrant imposed itself on the game and nothing has been the same since.

Consider this: South Africans now lead the money lists of the two most prestigious tours -- Ernie Els on the PGA Tour, Charl Schwartzel on the European Tour. And anyone holding an exacta ticket with Els and Schwartzel last week would have won large; they finished one-two at the WGC-CA Championship on Sunday.

Two weeks into the Florida swing of the PGA Tour, the Southern Hemisphere is two-up on the Northern Hemisphere -- the winners hailing from South America (Colombia's Camilo Villegas) and South Africa (Els).

Phil Mickelson has been discombobulated by Woods' absence. Mickelson entered the season with high hopes and a rare opportunity to supplant Tiger as No. 1, yet in five starts, he's finished no higher than eighth and has fallen in the World Ranking, to third. Lose your foil, lose your focus.

The game may have been born in Scotland, but the U.S. long ago appropriated it. Now its grip on superiority has become tenuous. It still has 15 players among the top 50 in the World Ranking (including the top three), more than any other country, as it should, given its population and golf heritage. But England, a country of about 51 million, or roughly one-sixth of the U.S. population, has six players in the top 50, which per capita gives it a significant advantage.

This isn't necessarily a troublesome turn, particularly in light of golf's global outreach program. Nor is the PGA Tour in danger of going the way of the LPGA, which has had only a single American winner since May of last year (Michelle Wie, in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in November). Many of the top international players aren't members of the PGA Tour, which enhances the odds of Americans winning at home.

But it's a strange new world, dominated not by Tiger, but by rumors involving Tiger, two more surfacing last week. One had him returning for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, another for the Masters.

Either way, come back soon, Tiger. The game has no equilibrium without you.

BUT DON'T COME BACK YET, TIGER

You know who does not want Woods to return at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? The LPGA.

The LPGA's first domestic event, the Kia Classic presented by J Golf, is scheduled opposite Palmer's tournament and it has two new sponsors for which it would like to make a favorable first impression.

The LPGA struggles for media attention week in and week out, but against the return of Woods, the Kia Classic at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., might be played in a vacuum.

THE RECESSION STING

The WGC-CA Championship might have met its demise on Sunday. CA's contract has expired and it has not indicated that it intends to renew it, though PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said last week that one way or another, the tournament would continue.

It is one of nine on the PGA Tour, however, without a sponsor in place for 2011.

Then there was this, from Peter Dixon of the Times (U.K.), quoting Chubby Chandler, agent of Els, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy, among other prominent international players:

"Sponsorship money is about 50 percent of what it was two years ago. That's for everything. Club deals, hats, the lot. Not only that, but we are having to fight for 50 per cent.

"In the whole of last year, I had no idea what a good deal was. We managed to do a couple with Ernie that turned out to be really good. It's only later that you find out that there is little or no money out there. I was negotiating with Ping for Lee and thought it wasn't enough. And then you make a few inquiries and realize they are bang on the money."

A RIVALRY FIT FOR A HEADLINE

It's much too soon to declare it a rivalry, but the potential is there, and should it evolve into one, it would rank as the best in history for those charged with squeezing it into the tight confines of a headline: Ryo, Noh. Six letters, or eight fewer than Palmer, Nicklaus.

Such a rivalry wouldn't be bad for golf in their respective countries, either, and a new event might foment it. Last week, the Japan Golf Tour announced that a team event, the Hyundai Capital Invitational, will be played in September. It will feature 10-player teams from Japan and South Korea.

There are those already salivating at the possibility of Japan's Ryo Ishikawa and Korea's Seung-yul Noh playing one another.

"A head-to-head battle between the two prodigious talents would be a dream match-up for television stations in Japan and South Korea," Reuters wrote.

The seed of a rivalry already has been planted, for apparent reasons: Ishikawa and Noh are each 18, hail from Asian countries, and hold the potential of stardom.

Noh followed his victory in the Maybank Malaysian Open eight days ago by finishing second in a 36-hole British Open qualifier to secure one of four spots available.

Ishikawa, meanwhile, already has demonstrated his ability to dominate the Japan Golf Tour.

A NOH WIN: AT LEAST ONE MAN SAW IT COMING

India's Jeev Milka Singh proved prescient when he wrote this in the Gulf News in December: "Noh is an exceptional talent, and if the last two years are any indication, the Korean is bound to make his breakthrough this year."

When Noh won the Malaysian Open, Singh followed with this in the Gulf News: "I was so happy to see Korean youngster Noh Seung-yul (win) the European Tour co-sanctioned Malaysian Open ahead of his illustrious countryman K.J. Choi. I have written before in this space how good Noh is. With his second professional win before coming out of his teens, Noh has proved once again that he is a definite star to watch out for in the future."

THE GLAMOR OF TRAVEL

Here's what not to have happen when you're an Australian playing on a U.S.-based tour that frequents Asia: Passport issues.

"On February 14th in Thailand," Australia's Katherine Hull told Patrick Smith of the Australian, "the photo page of my passport fell out. In a nutshell, my passport was impounded and destroyed. This also destroyed my U.S. visa. I got a new passport. That was an ordeal in itself. Now I have to get a U.S. visa in order to play. Being in Thailand and Singapore, I could not do anything about it and last week I did not give it a high enough priority because I was busy focusing on golf. We are working on it."