Left to Right: Dustin Johnson being notified of his controversial grounding on 18; Bubba Watson gagging on the third playoff hole; Nick Watney, the leader after three days, contemplating his 81 on Sunday; Allison Micheletti, the gorgeous girlfriend of winner Martin Kaymer; and 21-year-old Rory McIlroy, who missed a putt on 18 that would have earned him a spot in the playoff.

Somewhat surprisingly, we found ourselves interested in the final round of the PGA Championship. (Not glued to the TV, but also not flipping channels or watching 500 Days of Summer for the 12th time in five weeks.) No Tiger? No Phil? The favorites being out of contention actually stirred our interest because, as many writers will note today, you got a feeling the sport could be on the precipice of a youthful revolution.

Watching the veterans – Woods, 34, and Mickelson, 40 – swing away inconsistently while the young kids took over was actually quite fun. The problem with golf is that usually, if there aren’t familiar names atop the leaderboard on Sunday, what’s the draw? The 20-somethings – Kaymer, 25; McIlroy 21; Johnson 26; Watney 29; Watson at 31, was the elder statesman, even though his surfer mane gives off the impression he’s in his 20s – nearly turned the final major of the year into a Padres-Rangers World Series. Then Johnson grounded, and you couldn’t help but watch.

Golf would be wise to spend the offseason finding a way to market the newbies (and their WAGs?) to the masses. Golf has the 55 and up crowd. But Tiger’s lost his appeal to the 25 and under crowd. Find a hook – Allison Micheletti into the SI Swimsuit issue? – and run with it. The casual golf fans know Tiger and Lefty, but what do they know about a guy like Martin Kaymer, who has finished in the Top 8 at four of the last five majors?

And now, we wait for the Ryder Cup team to be announced. Will Jim Gray find a measure of “toldja!” when Tiger’s named to the team? [Golf Week]