The only thing shakier than Tiger's knee

You were drab this year. As you were last year.

Even your biggest admirers quietly concede this now, because if the Players Championship showed them how much fun big-time golf can be, the US Open showed them in glorious technicolour and threw in an extra 19-hole fanfare for good measure.

So much so that even those of us watching from six thousand miles away in an armchair still felt privileged to have done so.

And before you say it, no we're not drunk on the moment: we know that if Tiger's knee was right, he may well have wrapped up number 14 in regulation.

It's the details we're excited about: the way no-one moaned about the rough so much; the way a superlative player could once again play two of his most sensational shots despite being so wide of the fairway; the way Torrey Pines could make both a boomer and a shortie feel like they belonged there; the way the whoops from the gallery weren't just perfunctory, habitual things but visceral, all-consuming releases that probably startled even some of those producing them.

All that used to be you, remember?

Well, you have 10 more months to reflect, which should come easier now that you're on your own in the naughty corner. Torrey Pines made sure of that. Everyone loves the US Open again. Now, more than anything, we want to love you too.

But it's tough love time. Go back to being what you were; vulnerable to the golfer who excels but scary the moment he doesn't. Don't resent 63s; just relish the roars that accompany them.

And if you haven't already, be big enough to pick up the phone and call Mike Davis. Just to talk some things through.

Augusta National, you have a problem. A third consecutive so-so Masters and it will be a crisis.

Torrey Pines made sure of that.