The Texas Open reminds us that sometimes, we long for controversy

As the first round of the Texas Open wraps, the scoreboard looks like you'd expect from a lesser PGA Tour event.

A guy named Matt Jones is leading after he broke the course record at TPC San Antonio. Trailing him is Paul Stankowski, J.B. Holmes and a cast of names you may or may not have seen when glancing over the sports page one Saturday morning.

It's a fine tournament, and one that we enjoy covering, because it's played in a great city at an excellent venue and usually produces a solid winner (see Johnson, Zach).

All that is fine and dandy, but Thursday reminded us that even after we complain and complain about the likes of a fire hydrant, a neck injury or a hamburger chain, missing out on the controversy can kill a week on the PGA Tour.

While we in the golf business try our hardest to dismiss the notion that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are the PGA Tour, it is weeks like this that remind us, "Hey, that might be true."

Sure, we have guys like Holmes, Vijay Singh and John Daly in the field, but that isn't what tends to drive interest in golf anymore. That lies mostly with what to expect from Woods, with his image drastically changing over the last few months.

We love to anticipate the play of Lefty, who is feast or famine even this late in his career. It is the young guys like Rory McIlroy and Ryo Ishikawa, closing tournaments with numbers most of us hope for on the front nine.

While it is still only the first day of the Texas Open, with 54 holes of great play left to decide a winner, it feels like a down week in golf, and that is to be expected.

Sometimes the biggest story we can find isn't the one going on inside the ropes.