There hasn't been a lot to talk about in golf lately, not with Tiger Woods on the disabled list and Trevor Immelman back in the witness protection program.

No one has heard much from either since the Masters, leaving most golf fans with little to do other than break out their calculators every Sunday night and try to figure out who is doing what in the chase for some cup you hear all the television announcers talking about but are never quite sure what it is.

That will change next week when the top players in the world and a few lucky qualifiers get together on the coast north of San Diego for the first U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Woods will be back as a heavy favorite at a place where he almost always wins, while we'll be treated to another national championship at a public course anyone can play.

And the hottest player on the PGA Tour will be taking the week off so he can be better rested for the Travelers Championship.

Kenny Perry probably wasn't going to win the Open anyway. He's never won a major championship in his career, and at the age of 47 he's been around golf long enough to know that the odds of it happening now are about as remote as Woods getting lost on the way to Torrey Pines and missing his tee time.

But Perry wasn't going to be tempted to try, even after winning the Memorial on Sunday in Open-like conditions. Because to Perry playing in your country's national championship is one thing, and playing for your country is quite another.

He wasn't going to risk having to walk 36 holes on a surgically repaired knee to qualify for the Open. Not when the pickings are easier elsewhere.

Not when there's Ryder Cup points at stake.

"My time is running out," Perry said. "It's getting close to September."

There were a lot of reasons to cheer Perry on in the final round of the Memorial, not the least of which is he's one of the good guys on a tour filled with self-absorbed prima donnas. But the fact that he's on a remarkable run to make a Ryder Cup that means so much to him made it even better.

Faced with the realization he wasn't likely going to play unless he did something spectacular, Perry has been on a six-week run that has jumped him from 43rd on the Ryder Cup points list to fifth. He's gone from not even being in consideration for the team to being among the top eight point leaders who will automatically make it.

He won't let the lure of the U.S. Open stand in his way. Not when it may be his last chance to represent his country, and not when the Ryder Cup is at home in his native Kentucky.

Perry's determination to make the team shows how much the Ryder Cup still means to most players, even in an era where boundaries are blurred and many European players spend more time in the United States than they do at home. Some have suggested it means more to the Europeans than the Americans in recent years, but the pastings the U.S. team suffered recently hasn't diminished the desire of most top players to be on the team.

Whether that translates into regaining the cup in Louisville remains to be seen. Various U.S. captains have tried everything from bringing in celebrity chefs to organizing pingpong tournaments to get American players to bond together as a team like the Europeans always seem to do, but have had little success.

Tom Lehman even took his team on a private jet to Ireland two years ago so the boys could get in a little practice and hoist a few beers together several weeks before the competition. That worked so well the Americans lost for a second straight time by a record margin (18 1/2-9 1/2).

Jack Nicklaus was thinking about that the other day at the Memorial when he noted that any team that featured Woods and Phil Mickelson should be able to hold its own without having to hold sing alongs around the campfire.

"Get out of the way and let them go play," Nicklaus said. "That's sort of my feeling."

Paul Azinger may yet overplay his hand like his predecessors, but he has already done a couple things to tweak the competition that could pay off. He insisted on changing the rules to allow four captain's picks on the 12-member team instead of two, and for most of the points to be earned this year so he would have hot players.

Perry is taking advantage of those changes in his unlikely run to his second Ryder Cup team. He needs to play decently through the summer to keep his spot in the top eight, but you get the feeling he's come too far to let this chance slip away.

He won when he had to, and he's playing better than any golfer his age has the right to play.

He got us talking about golf again. Hopefully, we'll still be talking about him in September.

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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org