Although there were certainly some good moments and outstanding shots.
After Oosthuizen's double eagle he had the lead until 16, and there weren't a ton of challenges to him, either. Phil was out of it after his mega-gaffe on 4. By the time he worked back to 8 under it was too late. Matt Kuchar made a run to tie but then slipped on the next hole. (And then, for some reason, CBS didn't show him again until the 18th fairway, even though he still had a chance to post a solid target number.) Hansen stayed fairly close for most of the day, but since he wasn't making birdies they didn't show him.
Obviously the numbers were down b/c Tiger wasn't in contention, and I'm sure some people tuned out after Phil's triple bogey. But more than simply the lack of Tiger failing to draw people in, I think the lack of Tiger over the last few years has revealed how lazy the production became when Tiger was at his peak. When Tiger was at his peak, they could count on showing pretty much every stroke he took, and then filling in the gaps with the leader and a few other contenders and outstanding shots. Without him, they're lost. Not that Tiger's presence always resulted in great productions--three years ago when Angel Cabrera won, for instance, they showed all of about three shots from the eventual champion on the entire back nine (until the playoff). They were so caught up with Tiger and Phil that they missed what was actually happening.
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