by Alan B. Gibson

What happened to golf in the United States?

Generally, watching golf on television is one of those activities that ranks right up there with watching NASCAR on the tube – I’d rather watch the grass grow.

One of two exceptions to that is Masters week, and for some reason, I catch myself tuning in and out the entire week when the golfing world is focused on the goings on at the first major tournament of the season in Augusta.

Same was true last week when on Thursday I began bouncing back and forth to catch a few minutes at a time, with the times increasing as the week progressed.

All in all, it was a pretty good tournament and a fantastic Sunday finish, but you had to know that young Rory McIlroy wasn’t going to be mentally mature enough to handle the pressure of leading the world’s most sought-after title in golf come Sunday.

But the big question that came to my mind as I watched three Australians and a South African golfer battle it out was – what has happened to golf in the United States?

All of the U.S. golf fans rose to their feet and cheered as Tiger Woods made his run Sunday, looking for a time that he might be putting polish on his comeback at Augusta and it would be two U.S. golfers on the podium when it came time for last year’s champ, lefty Phil Mickleson, to help the new champ – what appeared to be a possible Tiger – don the coveted green jacket.

Tiger wilted – not as bad as McIlroy, but bad enough to keep a U.S. golfer from being awarded the green jacket.

In the end, the charge led by South African golfer Charl Schwartzel was some truly fun golf to watch, but where were the U.S. golfers? Not even in the thick of things.

In fact more than half – 51 of the 99 golfers in the field when play started Thursday – were foreign and when the checks were handed out on Sunday, only two U.S. golfers stood in the Top 10 finishes – Woods who was tied for third with a 278, and Ryan Palmer, who finished in the last of those top 10 finishers in sixth place.

In addition to the Masters, there’s only one other golfing event that I watch on television to any extent at all, and that is when the U.S. golfers take on the world in the next Ryder Cup.

Looking across last weekend’s leaderboard from the Masters, it doesn’t bode well for the next Ryder Cup competition.