The British Open is the epitome of what ails top men's golf

For your consideration, a quick summary of how underperforming men's professional golf looks right now:

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, the two true American golf stars to emerge in the years since Tom Watson won his fifth and final British Open in 1983, are unlikely to become Ryder Cup captains anytime soon, if ever.

How weird is that?

(*Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau are listed here as Works in Progress. Late for Dustin Johnson.)

Phil earned a shelf by dealing with the USGE, the United States Golf Establishment.

Tiger put himself on the shelf because (not his words) he lives a more complicated life than we know.

This week, we get a break from inefficiency. Here comes the British Open. Any British Open is good, but the Open in Scotland, the land of our forefathers, is still the best. Here's a premium golfing balm for men. Phil Mickelson, 54, and Tiger Woods, 48, are playing this week at Royal Troon. Would you, if you had a place in the field? On Thursday, no one will be talking about LIV Golf, next year's Ryder Cup, the TGL series, the TMRW Sports syndicate. We are here for the Open.

Mickelson and Woods will eventually age, as all winners do. But they got a guaranteed place at the age of 60. Watson was 59 when he tied for the lead through 72 holes when the Open ended at Turnberry, in 2009. If they can play, they will play. They are playing.

So does everyone else. Jordan and Justin, old school chums. Bryson and Brooks, former soldiers, now brothers in LIV. Los españoles, Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, two of the strongest (?) Ryder Cup. Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington, both can still shoot good points on the linksland. Sepp Straka from Austria and Shub Sharma from India and Sebastian Soderberg from Sweden. Stewart Cink, while we're at it. There are 12 novices in this field. An uneducated person can win. It has happened before.

One golfer will walk away as the Golf Champion of the Year, the most prestigious title in a self-respecting country. Furthermore, any blue-blooded person at Troon this week – be that person a player, caddy, fan, broadcaster, writer, constable, course worker, TV viewer and on and on – will be changed forever, if you let them. experience wash over you. The course is based on a re-purposed desert between a flat beach and a flat road. Nothing, really. Nothing and everything, and it's been 150 years. A round at Royal Troon gives you plenty of opportunities to make good decisions. You won't find them right.

God Save the Open. Sing to each other the song My Country, 'Tis Yours.

The problem with golf (elite men's professional golf) is that it already exists way so that it fills itself. This week, more than any other week of the golf year, is a reminder of what the game is — the game! – it's about everything. Some men wearing woolen hats took an idle place and turned into a treacherous course with enough height. Like most things, you don't need that much.

Along those same lines, if you're making money in golf, it's a fun risk. How much do you really need? When golfers see other golfers at cocktail parties, a simple ice breaker is, How's your game? Or, How do you play? The game. It's playing. None of this is work.

The British Open is a classic for golf, by all accounts. (Every open course has guest play times.) There are a hundred ways to qualify for this tournament, and it comes down to this: shoot the right scores in the right spots. Your job is to play by the rules, keep going, shoot the best score you can, and deposit your check. Unless you're Gordon Sargent or one of the 11 students in the field. Gordon will get his checks soon. Greed is not good, especially in the subject of links. Tom Watson will tell you that. Five and a half Opens. Amazing. If Alfie Fyles or Bruce Edwards or Neil Oxman (Watson's long time caddies) ever saw one greedy Open shot, I'd be shocked.

Watson was the Ryder Cup captain. Twice, both road games – one win, one loss. Sam Snead (who won the Open at St. Andrews in '46) was a three-time Ryder Cup captain. Ben Hogan, one-time winner, three-time Ryder Cup captain. Arnold Palmer, two-time Open winner, two-time Ryder Cup captain. Big Jack: three open wins, Seven seconds, two-time Ryder Cup captain. Do you know what you do when you finish second, in the Open or the Ryder Cup? You find the winners, shake their hands and pretend you mean it. That's right out of Nicklaus' playbook. He has said it a thousand times. It's not that complicated.

Somehow everything got complicated. The sleepless, constant eye of “social media” didn't help. The big problem was the PIF money bomb thrown at top men's golf. It exposed golf's fault lines with ruthless efficiency.

It was bound to happen. The PGA Tour has operated with a certain subtle arrogance, and an unhealthy reliance on the star power of one player, for a long time. Conditions were ripe for LIV Golf or something like it to come big. LIVsters is betting that there is a place in the world for the world tour, because professional golf is played all over the world. I see no evidence of that. As all politics is domestic, so are many sports. The World Series, baseball's classic best-of-seven tournament to end its season each fall, is, of course, a misnomer. In fact golf has two famous international events, the Ryder Cup – and the Open Championship. It is an event that has been crowned the Golf Champion of the Year, and it resonates with a lot of people with its simplicity of going back. Keep your golf ball under the wind and out of the bunkers, first.

Tiger, a three-time Open winner, knows all that. Phil does, too. For a while there, he didn't think he would find a moment to celebrate: Sunday night with hands on top of the jug. But he did, in the summer of '13, to host this week. It seems like a long time ago, but in reality it was only yesterday.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at [email protected]

Michael Bamberger

Golf.com Contributor

Michael Bamberger writes for GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. Prior to that, he spent nearly 23 years as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. After college, he worked as a newspaper reporter, first at (Martha's) Vineyard Gazette, later for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He has written a variety of books on golf and other subjects, the most recent of which is The Second Life of Tiger Woods. His magazine work has been featured in numerous Best American Sports Writing programs. He holds the US patent on the E-Club, a utility golf club. In 2016, he was awarded the Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the organization's highest honor.