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Let’s get this out of the way quickly.

This Saturday will mark the one-year “anniversary” of Tiger Woods’ car accident that precipitated not only the downward spiral of his personal life but the biggest golf/non-golf story in decades.

What is left is a man, who had been one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet for what he did on the golf course but one who will forever be linked to what he apparently did so scandalously off of it.

The fallout was a divorce and a 2010 season that was his worst as a pro with no victories and scarcely the threat of one. Puzzling still, is the apparent loss of skills from a player that many considered the best ever.

The flashbacks to a wrecked SUV and a stack of tabloids will be written, tweeted and telecast from this holiday weekend going forward, but here’s to hoping that Sean Foley will be able to poke around and rediscover a golf swing that made golf must-see TV.

… And consider the PGA Tour as more than an interested party to a revitalized Tiger to boost those ratings. Nielsen has estimated that audiences for their telecasts declined by 21 percent in the 2010 season.

… Declining interest in watching golf on TV also seemed to extend to the man himself and his ability to attract sponsorship dollars.

The Davey Brown Index, which helps determine a celebrity’s ability to move the brand needle, has estimated Woods dropped from 96th overall to No. 2,586 according to a report in Reuters. By comparison, Woods has fallen to a similar category as Barry Bonds, the report said.

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The United States just doesn’t have the pull it once did.

Europe won the Ryder Cup this year. Players from the Old World claimed half of 2010s major tournaments. An Englishman holds claim to the top ranking in golf.

And now, some of their best players would rather stick to their side of the pond and forgo membership in the PGA Tour — once considered the world’s best.

They’re taking the “if you can make it there” part right out of the equation and opting to go straight to making it anywhere.

And judging from the schedule on the European Tour, those who ply that circuit are willing to play everywhere.

Graeme McDowell will play PGA Tour. Photo copyright USGA/Steve Gibbons

Westwood did not win on the European Tour this year, but ironically gained his lone victory in the U.S. in Memphis. With runnerup finishes in the Masters and the British Open, though, Westwood’s year was good enough to reach No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking as Tiger Woods struggled through his worst year as a professional.

That could easily be dismissed as a veteran player managing the second half of his career, but the reputation of the PGA Tour as a must-play circuit takes a bigger hit when a rising star like Rory McIlroy opts out and current PGA champion Martin Kaymer is slow to announce his primary affiliation for 2011.

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At least he was consistent.

Tiger Woods made it through his entire 2010 playing schedule without a victory — not a major, a mini major or some other relatively minor pedestrian PGA Tour event.

It breaks a string of 14 years that extends back to a point in time when Woods was just a celebrated amateur and not a worldwide icon of a sport — a phenom who would soon let the pros that tee it up for a living know that their world was about to change.

But it’s Tiger’s world that has changed now, nearly a 180-degree reversal of where he was. And put into moth balls until the 2011 season is his push to reclaim his considerable talents and harness them fully to produce another title.

“I just didn’t put it together this year; I didn’t play well. I had numerous opportunities to play well and I just didn’t do it,” Woods told Reuters. “I had my chances. It was one of those years where I didn’t put it together.”

Tiger Woods hits shot at 2010 U.S. Open, where he finished T-4. Photo copyright USGA/Mike Ehrmann

On Monday, Woods placed last in a four-man charity skins event in Thailand, a day after finishing T-6 at the HSBC/WGC event in Shanghai. But he managed to hold on to the second position in the Official World Golf Ranking, which reflects not only the quirky points system but his once-mammoth lead that was whittled away over the past calendar year.

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The road to No. 1 is best taken with your feet up.

Relax at home, catch up with the family and queue up a cold beverage, perhaps, with a bit of football on the telly.

Such it is for Lee Westwood, who was not in the field at Valderrama for the Andalucia Masters, where Graeme McDowell won.

Still, it was apparently enough for for Westwood to kick Tiger Woods from the perch he occupied about as long as a senatorial term.

The 281-week reign was a record for the Official World Golf Ranking, an accounting that began in 1986, and the toppling of Woods should come as no surprise. The man hasn’t won a tournament in a year and hasn’t been a real threat since his fall from grace last Thanksgiving.

That Woods held the top spot for so long after doing so little in recent months didn’t exactly provide a ringing endorsement for the OWGR.

Lee Westwood is the new No. 1. Photo by Steve Newton

And now, neither does its elevation of Westwood.

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The word is the top ranking in golf will go to someone other than Tiger Woods.

Of course, that has been speculated for weeks but somehow the 0-for-2010 and one-time player-without-peer has held on to his No. 1 slot.

It’s enough to make even the casual golf fan weekender question the validity of such a list and it’s about to take another hit.

The baton will pass without little happening beyond the calendar flipping from one day to the next.

By Halloween, projections have Lee Westwood ascending to No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking without teeing it up in another tournament.

The Englishman is nursing a sore right calf and ankle and has said he will not play again until the HSBC event in Shanghai in early November and possibly wait until Dubai later in the month.

Lee Westwood could be new No. 1. Photo by Steve Newton

Woods, who finally displayed his talents at the recently concluded Ryder Cup where he was 3-1 in a United States loss, also has no immediate plans to play before the HSBC event.

Makes the BCS look like pure genius.

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And to think everyone was concerned with who won.

The most compelling story to come out of the Ryder Cup is not the team that enjoyed a champagne shampoo, but Cigar Guy.

Europe won and the United States lost at Celtic Manor, but really who’s counting when you’ve got a guy with a wig, a cigar and a fake mustache?

Somewhere Groucho Marx and his four brothers are smiling; it’s a gag worthy of A Night at the Opera.

Cigar Guy has even managed to upstage one of the best sports photos ever taken.

This is Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston, Bobby Orr going airborne and Y.A. Tittle kneeling and bleeding on the turf kinda stuff.

But what most folks will remember is Cigar Guy.

Tiger Woods hits ball to camera. Cigar Guy at right. Photo by Mark Pain/Daily Mail

Haven’t seen him?

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Europe is better.

They’re better at golf and they’re better at playing collectively at a solo game. They hit better shots; they’re more clutch.

And because of all that, Europe again has laid claim to the Ryder Cup.

Mike Scarr

The Americans, who once ruled the competition as if they were simply toying with their little brother, have been lapped.

And aside from generating the occasional emotional victory in the biennial competition, they really have no idea how to win it.

A one-point victory has the appearance of being close, but this cup was decided as soon as the United States squad began kicking matches away after gaining what seemed to be some early momentum.

Wet weather was a factor to start and it ultimately pushed the singles matches all the way to a first-ever Monday finish, but the Europeans calmly played to their strength which was a combination of home-course advantage and a quiet and collectively-assured confidence which allowed them to outlast their opponent en route to another Ryder Cup title.

Down three full points entering Monday’s singles matches, the Americans made their patented charge and claimed six of 12 matches while halving two. It was a typical comeback by a group that often reserves its best play for the final day.

Had Hunter Mahan fought through to a draw with Graeme McDowell in the cup’s final match, the U.S. would have claimed a half-point and retained the title by tying the Europeans.

But they wasted too many opportunities in their previous matches. Coming from behind is great theater, but it’s lousy strategy.

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There is no purse and no cut.

The field is smaller than the most exclusive of invitational tournaments.

Representatives from only a handful of nations will compete, but it packs more competitive emotion than most golfers will experience in a lifetime.

It is the Ryder Cup, a biennial event that takes turns on each side of the Atlantic Ocean and pits a squad from Europe against one from the United States.

The U. S. has a sizable lead in number of cups won over the years, but the Europeans have been the more powerful team for the last 25 years.

Staged this year at Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales, Europe’s captain Colin Montgomerie will have Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Ross Fisher, Peter Hansen and brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari at his disposal.

American captain Corey Pavin will counter with Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Jim, Furyk, Stewart Cink, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Jeff Overton, Matt Kuchar and Tiger Woods.

U.S. 2010 Ryder Cup team. Photo courtesy Welsh Assembly Government.

Play begins in the three-day event Friday and here are a few Ryder Cup factoids that might otherwise get lost in the shuffle:

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Bubba Watson can win this year’s FedEx Cup, but Tiger Woods cannot.

Six majors champions are in the ultra-exclusive top-30 field at this week’s Tour Championship, but only one of those players currently holds his title.

And a total of 12 golfers will tee it up at East Lake on Thursday with a shot at the $1.35 million first-place check and the $10 mil cup bonus despite the fact they did not win on the PGA Tour this year while winners Bill Haas, Cameron Beckman, Jason Bohn and Anthony Kim will not.

At least Phil Mickelson will get to defend his title.

Such is the climate of the PGA Tour’s version of a playoff, a four-tournament swing that caps its run with the Tour Championship in Atlanta this week.  The process began with 125 players and has been whittled to 30.

Matt Kuchar is the top seed at the Tour Championship. Photo by Keith Allison

The road to the playoffs is entirely based on points, awarded to players relative to how they finish in each tournament with big events like the Masters worth a little more and secondary events like the Reno-Tahoe Open worth about half.

So, it’s equitable — the same values are available to all — but once the playoffs start points spike considerably and there are cuts at each of the three run-up events to Atlanta.

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He would prefer the lettering to be different on the trophy, but Dustin Johnson will take it — victories on the PGA Tour don’t come easily.

It was just a short month ago, when Johnson took a swing he’ll likely never repeat. His ill-fated swipe in the sand at Whistling Straits turned a possible PGA Championship title into the penalty stroke heard ’round the world.

Coupled with his collapse at the U.S. Open in June and Johnson had more major tournament heartbreak than one career should endure: certainly one season.

So his victory Sunday carries the title sponsor of BMW and not PGA, but it was his second win this season, fourth of his career and notice served that he is among the game’s young stars.

“You know, after a few unfortunate situations I’ve had, you know, it definitely feels good and gives me a lot of confidence going into next week and the rest of the year,” Johnson told PGATour.com. “You know, it makes things a lot easier.”

His $1.35 million check will help to smooth out some rough spots as well, but seemingly easy is Johnson’s ability to put himself in contention. He successfully defended his title at Pebble Beach in February and was the 54-hole leader on the same golf course at the U.S. Open in June.

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