With Tiger back, other golfers need to prove themselves

While the Big Cat was away, the mice didn't just play, they had a formal affair.
Several golfers took advantage of Tiger Woods' abcense from the PGA Tour, including Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh. Harrington won the final two majors of the year and Singh took home the FedEx Cup and the $1 million annuity that came with it.
In my mind, however, would these obviously gifted players have been successful if Woods were around? Singh doesn't need the money or the annuity, but would he have it if Tiger were healthy?
To me though, the biggest question of this year's Tour schedule is Harrington. The Irishman won the British Open and the PGA Championship last season fair and square, but Tiger was rehabbing from knee surgery. He beat the men who were there but he didn't beat the best.
Harrington reminds of the Houston Rockets of the mid-1990s, who won two NBA titles while Michael Jordan was semi-retired. The abcense of the game's greatest player on the league's best team will forever haunt the Rockets. They didn't have to face the best team with the best player. Instead, they faced an aging Knicks team and an Orlando team that had Shaq before he became the league's most dominant player.
People don't look at those Houston teams the way they look at other teams that have hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy. And they won't look at Harrington the same way either. That is, unless he wins a major with Tiger Woods in the tournament field.
Tiger is back and he says he healthy, so Harrington must win a major this year. Otherwise, he will be considered a fluke, a paper champion who didn't square off against the best possible competition.
He is the mouse that has to slay a Tiger, for no one else will.

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