By MIKE ECKERT
If the Buick Open officials could have written the script for the two weeks leading up to their tournament, I bet it would have gone something like this.
Tiger Woods -- the poster boy of their company -- would grind out an emotional win at the U.S. Open, take a week off and then make his return to Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club outside of Flint for the tournament's 50th anniversary, which begins today.
For an instant, it looked like the script was being followed to a tee, even with an added 19 holes of impromptu playoff drama.
However, a torn ACL and a double stress fracture in his left knee shut Woods down for the season and brought the PGA Tour to its knees, so to say.
Welcome to intermission of the Tiger Woods era.
Enter the Buick Open and the search for the next big draw, after Tiger and after Phil Mickelson, who won't compete this week.
There will be seven major champions teeing it up today, including 12th-ranked Jim Furyk and fan favorite John Daly, but I have to believe that the most interesting player in the field is Rocco Mediate. He's the one guy who can keep the average golf fan tuned in during Tiger's hibernation.
After giving Woods the biggest test of his professional career at the U.S. Open, Mediate put himself right at the top of the golf world.
I'm convinced Rocco would be less known had Tiger missed the final putt on 18 Sunday and handed Mediate his first career major. There would have been no drama in that.
His swing is flawed and his back has plagued him for his career. He's gutsy and outgoing.
He's an underdog.
Rocco is the PGA Tour's perfect go-to guy for this free-for-all summer.
To his name, Mediate has just five career victories, including the 2000 Buick Open. But today, he's a big draw
Last week, ads started running on The Golf Channel hyping the Buick Open as Mediate's return to golf. It's ironic, considering that Mediate was barely mentioned at the tournament's media day in May as a competitor in the field. Now, he's the star in the lineup.
As a fan favorite and a bit of a celebrity -- he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last week -- it will be interesting to see how Mediate reacts to the newfound attention. And today will be the first gauge.
If Mediate can capitalize and win a few tournaments this summer, golf could have the hero it desperately needs until Woods returns.
Or, he could fade away into sports nostalgia as "that lovable loser who once took Tiger Woods to the wire."
Either way, golf fans will have something to pay attention to for the rest of the season.
