ESPN

• Voting open on the Open Championship.

As second-round play got under way at the Open Championship, SportsNation offered by a wide margin that it would sooner follow Tiger Woods' group than Tom Watson's group around Turnberry. In retrospect, maybe that majority just had an inkling it would be its final chance to see Woods in this year's event (or maybe not).

Tiger is out of the tournament, and Watson is atop the leaderboard after 36 holes, which is the equivalent of John McEnroe advancing to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and Roger Federer bowing out in his second match. It's the equivalent of Carl Lewis coming out of retirement to blow past Usain Bolt in the 100 meters. It's the equivalent of some young Hollywood hotshot losing Catherine Zeta-Jones to Michael Douglas … all right, so it's not completely without precedent.

Voters still aren't ready to hand the Claret Jug to Watson, who at age 59 would be the oldest major winner by more than a decade. But they are more favorably inclined than after his opening-round 65.

• Before we worry about the apocalypse, voters still say Tiger's No. 1.
• Beyond the Nation: The man, the myth, the blogging legend -- Jason Sobel

“

I'll be kind of glad if Tiger misses the cut. I'm kinda Tigered out. There are other people who play professional golf.

” -- tybae40

“

Tiger this what happens when you only play 8 tournaments a year. Tiger is the biggest sell-out in professional sports. He is a gazzillionaire and could care less about the fans and the game. Come on Tom!!

” -- jdelaw12