KEY POINTS:
It has to be one of golf's most meaningless events.
Each year the winners of each of golf's four Majors head off to some pleasant, resort-like venue (often Hawaii or Puerto Vallarta - this year, Bermuda) to play off against each other in a two round made-for-television spectacle
they grandiosely bill as the "PGA Grand Slam of Golf".
It has all the tension of, say, a soccer friendly - or Saturday morning's 3rd-4th playoff at the rugby World Cup.
Oh well, you may say, all fairly pointless; but at least you get to see the greats of the game like Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh battling it out over a couple of balmy days on a beautifully manicured piece of golf turf. (Our very own Michael Campbell even got his invitation to go once, when he won the US Open in 2005.)
Well - not quite.
This year, the four Major winners were Zach Johnson (The Masters), Angel Cabrera (US Open), Padraig Harrington (British Open) and Tiger Woods (PGA Championship).
Zach Johnson acknowledges his relative anonymity. He went on David Letterman's Late Show after his Augusta win in April, and joked "even I haven't heard of me."
Oh well, an odd assortment of pros, but at least there's Tiger.
Again - not quite.
The World number one pulled out of the tournament, needing rest after a long year's Tour.
It was obviously a heart-renching decision for the superstar to make, as can be evidenced by this statement his posted on his personal website:
"Qualifying for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf is very meaningful to me because it signifies you have won a major championship. As much as I would enjoy going to Bermuda, I have played a lot of golf late in the year and need to shut it down for a while. Hopefully, I'll qualify again and I look forward to competing again in the future."
Somehow, I can't imagine him ever sending the Tournament Director at Augusta National a similarly worded message, a week out from the Masters.
His replacement this week was Jim Furyk, the talented American player with a swing no club pro would ever instruct a student to emulate.
Furyk got there because of his high finish on the season-ending Money List. Look, it could have been a lot worse - the runner-up to Tiger at the PGA was Woody Austin.
Anyway, to the golf.
Angel Cabrera won it all today, as he forced a play-off with Irishman Harrington after an 18th-hole eagle, both golfers finishing on 136.
The 38-year-old Argentine then birdied the third extra hole to take the title and the US$1.35 million that goes with it.
Jim Furyk was third on 138 after a closing 67 while countryman Zach Johnson fired a 69 to finish fourth (it's hard to call it "last") on 139.
Bring on 2008, I say, and the welcome return of the "real" Tour.
