Chasing The Dream: CBS Plows The Ground For Golf After Tiger

It's Saturday afternoon, catching up on the work that didn't get done in the aftermath of the flood, looking for a golf tournament on the tube (Mrs. OS is a saint, enduring golf on TV as she does.)

Turning to CBS, and find a one-hour special, 'Chasing the Dream', featuring the rising generation of young golf pros like Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy.

Someone has made recent decision to plow the ground in preparation for a PGA Tour without Tiger, or featuring a much diminished role for the former Boy Wonder for a while.

It's just bidness, after all. There are numbers to make, and bills to pay. Everyone became accustomed to Tiger showing up, being himself, and everybody carting off their own wheelbarrow of money. It worked so well for ten years, who wouldn't get fat and happy?

So, let's parade the kids who can barely shave, use handheld cameras at funny angles, no shot longer than three seconds, edit that 'grainy-film' look in back at the editing suite. Let's present them as the bright boys they are, not as legends in their own time.

Let's hope this works.

OS has mixed feelings about Mr. Woods, who has a long dark trip through the tunnel of life still ahead. Tiger showed us all what is possible, if we're willing to work hard enough. He also shows how things can go totally pear-shaped if we don't pay attention to details of life. In any case, after all the money he made for everyone around him, it seems a bit churlish to throw him completely under the bus. It can't be like the folks around him didn't approximately know what was going on in his off-hours.

As someone who has failed dramatically a time or two, and felt those wheels roll over him, OS appreciates grace--a lot.

And in honor of an athlete in the same trade who is retiring at the top of her game, with grace, class and good feelings all around, here is the transcript of Lorena Ochoa's retirement announcement.

I'm making this decision because all the elements are together. You know, to start, I always said that I wanted to play for some years, around ten years. And what I wanted to do is achieve my goals and to be the No. 1 player in the world. Retiring today or being at the top, you know, today is my anniversary for three years of being at the top in the Rolex World Rankings.

The second thing I always dreamed and I always wanted to finish here in Mexico. To be able to play my last tournament in front of my crowd, and in the moment of seeing them every day, and together to watch me playing my last tournament over here.

And third, well, finally, I just I'm ready to start a new life. You know, I just want to be a normal person. I just want to live like everyday things and be home, and be back with my family all the time that we lost in the last few years.

I'm ready to move on. You know, once you achieve your goals and you are at the top, it was good to me. But there are so many other things that I'd like to do. I'm really happy today, and I'm pleased. I'm 100% complete. It’s great news and I'm super happy.

I'm thanking everyone for their support and all the fans and for the LPGA, and people that have been watching my golf and following my career.

For Miss Ochoa, the really good stuff is just beginning, 'cuz she kept her head on straight all along the way.

Three cheers for this lovely young woman, who deserves to be role model.