IT WAS not quite a throwback to the day Sandy Lyle was asked what he thought about young Tiger Woods and replied: "I don't know, I've never played there."
However, given promoting a tournament without Woods needs enough spin to stop a Titleist on a trampoline, you must pay tribute to how well the organisers, players and the media banded together to keep this British Open on the back pages before the first drives were hit in anger.
Richly deserved praise, particularly, to the designer of the "controversial" 17th green, a sharply contoured new surface that, even before first official three-putt, had been likened by one bemused past winner to a skateboard park - an allusion that conjures unfortunate images of Colin "Rad Man" Montgomerie in Lycra, helmet and kneepads doing a loop-the-loop over a tricky four-footer.
However, on a course that is otherwise so perfectly presented that even the once serially controversial Greg Norman described it as the best prepared British Open layout he had seen, the gripes about the 17th green deflected, at least momentarily, the gripes about the absence of You Know Who.
If you still weren't distracted, into the press tent waddled John Daly, now ranked No.643 in the world at golf but still a tearaway No.1 in beer-soaked controversies.
And it was not long before Daly opened fire on his former coach Butch Harmon, claiming the swing doctor (famed for his early work with a certain jungle feline) had spread "lies that ruined my life" about Daly's alleged antics at the PODS Championship in Florida last March.
I mean, who would seriously believe that during a break in play Daly would go to the Hooters marquee where they were serving free beer, get tanked, replace his caddie with an NFL coach and spend the rest of the day drink-driving?
As Daly says, "I'm eating too much, but I'm not drinking hardly at all." Just your average keg-a-day guy.
Then again, given his decline from freakish talent to freakshow exhibit, using Daly as a diversion for Woods's absence might be considered exploitation. The man is not so much a professional golfer any more as a trivia game.
Was it his second or third wife who was jailed on drugs charges? Did he get into trouble for hitting his tee shot off a beer can or a bourbon bottle while playing a pro-am with Kid Rock this year? Did he lose $30 million at the blackjack tables or was it only $15 million? Did he play a recent round with: (a) No shorts and shoes? (b) No pants? (c) No dignity? It's worth looking at YouTube for the answer to the last Daly trivia poser.
Still can't see the British Open for the Woods? Then a posse of smartly blazered officials appeared to announce the game's latest bid to be reinstated as an Olympic sport, having not been granted a tee time by the IOC since 1904.
With four prestigious major championships, which will always appeal to the top players more than a gold medal, golf needs the Olympics like Daly needs a cream bun. But, with the whiff of another global merchandising opportunity in their nostrils, the sport's head honchos are off to Beijing where they will begin competing with softball, baseball, roller-sports, karate, squash and rugby sevens for one of the two places available on the 2016 Olympics program.
Golf has a chance to slash the odds further in its favour by combining its bid with roller-sports and holding the competition on the 17th green at Royal Birkdale. Failing that, it plans to have Daly wine and dine IOC dignitaries in the Hooters tent at the Arkansas Open.
Which left only the most predictable northern English distraction of all. With a frigid wind howling across the course, it was hard to tell who had shown more optimism turning up at Royal Birkdale, David Duval or the ice-cream salesmen.
No, this British Open will not be won by whoever is lucky enough to benefit from Woods withdrawal. It will be won by the last player who can still feel his fingers.
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