Word that Tiger Woods is having season-ending knee surgery was bad news for a lot of people, probably none more than Rocco Mediate, who finished second to him in this week's sensational U.S. Open playoff.

Imagine his friends from Pennsylvania:

"What? You couldn't even beat a one-legged guy?"

However, there will be plenty of hurt to go around with Woods on the shelf for the rest of the golf season, nowhere perhaps more than television. There is sincere doubt about the sport's ability to draw much of an audience without Tiger on the leaderboard.

Last weekend's U.S. Open produced sizable ratings and having the location on the West Coast allowed NBC to extend the tournament into prime time in the East. Monday's 18-hole playoff may have cut into some soap opera time, but the viewers that it drew on a weekday were better than many shows get in prime time.

But the only reason for that is Tiger Woods. He without question is the straw that stirs the PGA Tour's drink. Without him the tour largely becomes a bunch of snooty, country-club types who no one cares about.

Sure, you have a few Phil Mickelsons, some Mediates, a Boo Weekley or an Anthony Kim here and there, but for the most part the tour is filled with guys like Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, Ernie Els, or Retief Goosen, who are all good, but who all have about as much charisma as a stick of margarine.

Woods' involvement in a tournament produces a 50 percent boost in TV ratings. Without him, there's really very little reason to recommend watching a tournament except for the remaining two major tournaments and the Ryder Cup.

"Let's be realistic here," CBS' Jim Nantz told Golf.com. "This news is a punch in the gut. It's as if someone sucked all the air right out of the building. We're talking about perhaps the most dominant athlete in the history of sports."

Think of what things will be like in Washington, D.C., on the July 4 weekend when Woods' new tournament at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., will have everything but him playing in it. It should still draw people to the course, but the potential TV audience just went through a trapdoor.

The British Open two weeks after that at Royal Birkdale is usually the worst of the majors for TV ratings because of the early hour in the States, but the idea of Tiger going for a second straight major victory would've changed that. The British Open organizers, of course, tried to maintain a stiff upper lip on the situation.

"Tiger is an enormous attraction, there's no denying that," Peter Dawson, Royal & Ancient chief executive, said. "But the Open Championship has had many exciting finishes which Tiger has not been part of and I'm sure there will be more.

"It's very sad. We're very sorry that he's succumbed to the injury and he won't be competing in the Open. We hope he has the speediest recovery."

He's not the only one.

— Jim Carlisle is a staff writer for The Star. E-mail address: jcarlisle@VenturaCountyStar.com.