BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- So, Tiger Woods isn't here.

So what?

Sure, it's unfortunate for the fans. Sure, it's tough on those PGA Championship officials charged with selling tickets. Sure, it's a reality check for all those hotels in the Detroit area that counted on those $300-a-night rooms being filled. Sure, it's bad for the sponsors who rely on Tiger to get all that free TV time for their swoosh. And, sure, it's not all that pleasant for Woods either.

But the last time we checked the PGA is still a major championship. They're still going to present that big, bulky Wanamaker Trophy come Sunday evening. Minus one player, albeit the best player, it still boasts the top field of all the majors.

"It's unfortunate for Tiger and it's a shame probably for the spectators, but I don't think it takes anything away from the tournament," the flamboyant Brit, Ian Poulter, said yesterday at Oakland Hills Country Club. "I mean, it certainly didn't take anything away from the [British] Open championship."

Well, some think it did.

In fact, a media type asked Padraig Harrington, who won the British at Royal Birkdale, if it was any less gratifying having conquered a Tiger-less field.

Harrington could do no more than shake his head and offer a weak chuckle.

"You can only win the tournament you're playing in, you can only win the week you're playing, and you can only beat the field that [is] there," Harrington said in his lilting, high-pitched Irish accent. "So it's irrelevant at the end of the day who is in the field."

What's next? Does Geoff Ogilvy's U.S. Open win in 2006 get an asterisk because Tiger missed the cut? Should Phil Mickelson's three-inch jump for joy at the '04 Masters mean any less because Woods was in the middle of a swing change and finished tied for 22nd? Heck, if Tiger not contending is an issue, should Shaun Micheel's surprise triumph at the '03 PGA even count? After all, Woods had completed 18 holes and was in the parking lot, stashing his clubs in the trunk of his Buick Rendezvous when Micheel teed off in the final round.

So, Tiger Woods isn't here. So be it. He is the greatest talent of his era and perhaps every other era, and the steely bravado that allowed him to go 90 holes for his astounding U.S. Open win days short of knee surgery that has sidelined him for the rest of the season will be missed. The game certainly is not better off for his absence.

But the games go on and they can't be considered any less meaningful.

Harrington stuck his tongue far into his cheek when he pointed out that Woods wasn't the only big name missing at Royal Birkdale.

"I've got to say, Jack Nicklaus didn't play in the Open championship and neither did Arnold Palmer or Ben Hogan," he said. "We can list a number of players, the greats of the game, that weren't there."

Well, Hogan never did care for the rigors of travel over the pond.

But Harrington made his point which, basically, went like this: Tiger wasn't there and, by the way, I don't care.

He shouldn't. Winning a major championship is tough enough, in and of itself. It's a battle of nerves and resolve, a test of talent, of every club in the bag, on the toughest of courses in the toughest of conditions. When you overcome 40 mph winds that bend the pins sideways, well, you shouldn't have to be contrite about winning an event Tiger was forced to skip.

Poulter, who finished second at the British Open, admitted that "my second might have been third, or whatever, I don't know." And he notes that Woods' absence "might mean that I'm one place further up the leader board come Sunday. But I don't think it takes anything away from the tournament. It is what it is. I think it's an opportunity for a lot of people to try to take advantage of the world's No. 1 not being in the golf tournament."

And the golfer who takes the greatest advantage, the one who is declared a major champion on Sunday evening, shouldn't have to apologize for it.