It is an accepted premise the United States, until proven differently, isn't going to be a winner in soccer. From a parochial view, tennis is rather hopeless, other than Ms. Serena. Now we can't play golf, at least as well as the rest of the world.

Maybe provincialism is an outdated philosophy anyway. Borders are easily crossed. Maria Sharapova resides in Florida. So does Ernie Els. Ian Poulter, an Englishman who also spends much of the year in Florida, is sponsored by Mutual of Omaha, and it's hard to get much more American than that.

Still, there is that event called the Ryder Cup, the biennial competition between Europe and the U.S., this year scheduled in October in Wales, and the results figure to be deflating for America.

Even if the U.S. has the Nos. 1 and 2 players in the world rankings, a placement order which is not going to last very long,

Tiger Woods, No. 1, was bewildered by the greens at the British Open at St. Andrews where he had won the last two in succession, and tied for 23rd. After a competent 67 the first round Tiger never mattered.

Phil Mickelson, No. 2, and about to be overtaken in the rankings by Lee Westwood, was bewildered by everything and tied for 48th. Steve Stricker came in 55th, unimpressive for the No. 5 player in the world.

It isn't Red Sox-Yankees or Packers-Bears, games which grab the emotions in America, but in every sport there's both nationalism and pride, as well as a sense of of purpose and accomplishment.

Tiger may say as he did when confronted with the non-American revolution, "I just know them as players,'' but in Britain they relish them as homeboys stomping on the United States and giving a lie to the thought the PGA Tour is the superior golf circuit.

The U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, inherently our national golfing championship, belongs to a Northern Irishman, Graeme McDowell. The British Open almost always won by an American, especially at St. Andrews, this time was taken by Louis Oosthuizen, a South African we barely knew. Who plays the Euro Tour.

Does this have something to do with the American psyche? And determination? Or lack of same? Would our kids rather play computer games than real ones?

Is it too much to expect in an affluent country that young people would sacrifice time hitting serves or 3-irons or even, looking at the influx of Caribbean athletes in baseball, hitting curveballs?

Westwood, the Englishman who's a close No. 3 in the world, took a poke, good-natured that it might have been, at the decline of American players.

At the British Golf Writers dinner prior to the Open, Westwood congratulated PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem on Steve Sticker's win a few days earlier at the John Deere Classic and said, "Lovely to see an American win on your tour."

It hurts. But it hits. Including the Open, an official event as part of both tours, non-Americans have won nine of the last of 12 PGA events. Rory McIlroy, Westwood, Justin Rose (twice), Adam Scott, McDowell holding trophies but not a U.S. passport. And no American came in higher than seventh at St. Andrews.

If we're surprised, those involved in European golf are not. Andrew (Chubby) Chandler is an agent out of London whose clients includes Westwood, Els and Oosthuizen. He's been waiting for the moment Tiger Woods can be knocked down. That moment has arrived.

"After Graeme won the U.S. Open,'' Chandler told the Times of London, "I said I thought European players would win five out of the next eight majors. If you look at the players, they are just very, very good at the moment. And the European Tour is a strong place to play.

"I can sense what happened in the '80s - when Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam dominated the rankings - is going to happen now.''

What's happened of late is Angel Cabrera of Argentina won the 2007 U.S. Open, Padraig Harrington of Ireland won the '07 and '08 British Opens and '08 PGA Championship, Cabrera won the '09 Masters and Y.E. Yang of South Korea beat Tiger head-to-head in the '09 PGA Championship.

Woods' failings have removed the anchor which used to exist. He might not have won everything, but he won enough to give the PGA Tour the cachet which now has been stripped.

Golf, as many sports, is cyclical. But it will be a long while until this cycle of non-American success in golf is broken.