Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - Admit it. You thought this would be a boring British Open Championship, didn't you?

Who wouldn't? No Tiger Woods for the first time in over a decade, so why would you bother watching?

(Apparently, some of you did not. Overnight ratings were significantly down from last year, and in 2007 it was Sergio Garcia who appeared destined for major No. 1.)

The 2008 Open Championship will forever be remembered more for Greg Norman, a former world No. 1 who tied for third place, than Padraig Harrington's second consecutive claret jug. (More on him later.)

Norman took a two-shot lead into Sunday and no one, save for Chris Evert and maybe, just maybe, Norman himself thought he could win for a third time. It wasn't a question of talent, rather a question of readiness.

Would you really like someone's chances who hadn't played the British since 2005?

In 1986, Norman held the 54-hole lead in all four majors. Tiger's never done that. It's amazing to really think about. Of course, Norman only won one of them, the British Open, but became more associated with choking than Dr. Heimlich and more known for heartbreak than Elvis' Hotel.

That was his prime. Bob Tway holes out from a bunker. Fuzzy Zoeller goes crazy in an 18-hole playoff for the U.S. Open. Larry Mize. Paul Azinger. Jose Maria Olazabal. That's naming some, not all.

We could never forget the 1996 Masters. Up by six, Norman lost by five to Nick Faldo, who on a good day was about as warm as a Minnesota lake in January. Faldo was so upset to win his third green jacket he hugged Norman. Faldo never struck anyone as a hugger.

Norman has that effect on people. It probably has to do with the fact that he has been snake-bitten, yet has never complained. Sergio Garcia hit the stick in the Open playoff last year and cried that always happened to him. Guys chipped in, holed bunker shots and impossible putts against Norman, and never, not one word, about how it wasn't fair.

So without Tiger, we have a genuine star, and an old one to boot. Fifty-three is not ancient by any means, but it's beyond the age of usefulness for contenders in major championships.

He just couldn't finish.

Again, no one expected Norman to win in the end. He last played the British Open three years ago. The Shark doesn't even play the Champions Tour. Who needs more money when your yacht is bigger than my block in Philadelphia?

But for a few days he delighted the golf world. Norman basically admitted after taking his share of third that tired legs got him, as well as not enough practice. Those are the kinds of things you need to win in this era.

This loss doesn't hurt like all the rest. Norman spoke all week about keeping expectations low. Hard to do that when you're staring down a third major at 53 with the lead starting the back nine on Sunday, but he knew that this could go at any time.

Yes, he bogeyed the first three, but the lead was his on No. 10 tee. Norman did not play great or even well, but Harrington was four-under on the back nine in brutal wind conditions.

Add Harrington to that list of names that stole another one from the Shark.

And notice you didn't hear Norman complaining about it.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- One last thing about Norman - he said that this heroic performance wasn't enough to get him to return to action a little more frequently. You have to respect a guy with that kind of discipline. Remember this, Norman has no love for the PGA Tour or Commissioner Finchem, so that's not a shocker.

- As alluded to earlier, Harrington's four-under back nine was astonishing. The five-wood to four feet at 17 was the shot of the year. To even have the guts to try is worth mentioning, considering that if it lands a few feet shorter, this paragraph could be about Ian Poulter. I don't think this gets Harrington into the Hall of Fame yet, but back-to-back British Opens certainly gets you close.

- Faldo must have been a happy camper. Harrington wasn't on the Ryder Cup team until Sunday. Assuming Garcia can get back into the automatic spot, Faldo can choose Poulter and Monty, but he needs Garcia to get there on his own.

- Michelle Wie could have had her own column this week. She doesn't get it, and neither do the people handling her (cough...her parents...cough). Wie has been disqualified twice for signing an incorrect scorecard since she's been a pro. That's inexcusable. Give her a rules lesson every year. Wie's quickly becoming a joke and that's not fair to a kid. Playing the Reno-Tahoe Open is so ill-advised it's laughable. Wie's got to be getting into as many LPGA Tour events as possible to try and avoid Q School and get status there. Nothing is gained from embarrassing herself again on the PGA Tour. That's right, she embarrasses herself, and she'll do it once more.

- Jack Nicklaus' assertion that today's young golfers are soft because of big purses is a valid point. Nicklaus does a lot of complaining about today's era, enough that I'm wondering how serious the grudge is against some stiffs finishing fourth in events making more money than Nicklaus did in certain seasons. It would torment me too, so I give him a pass.

- Non-golf thought - After several years of driving, something happened on Tuesday that never happened before - my car stalled out and wouldn't start. I put on the hazards and walked to the closest service station, not two blocks away. The mechanic asked if he could tow it, I said yes, and he brought the tow truck. The car was out of gas. I was headed to get some, but that's so embarrassing. Often times in a mechanic shop I feel unmanly and stupid, but had I realized my car's problem while standing in the mechanic's office, I'd have run out of there.