Tiger's untimely exit...

Well, he lasted two rounds after being away eight months. Tim Clark played bogey-free golf and didn't let up, didn't allow Tiger any traction, and, ultimately, didn't lose to the world's number 1. For Tiger's part, he probably didn't play to his usual standards, but... to his everlasting credit he did not take a single thing away from Tim Clark's effort and result. Eldrick is a classy guy, indeed.

Allow me to float a theory, of sorts: Tiger came back for this tournament to honor a sponsor commitment, and played as well as he could to win assuming he got some breaks, as he did the first day with Brendan Jones who gave Tiger a great deal of wiggle room in that first round. Tiger won that round, but had he played a guy who was on, he might not have won and might have exited after that first round. This is true of any good golfer, against any other good golfer.

Now, Tiger has said that he does not enter tournaments to simply make the cut, or to place. He enters them to win. Period.

OK.

But what if Tiger is starting to see the light at the end of his golfing tunnel? What if being a dad for the second time is creating a stronger pull on him, a stronger attraction for him, than golf has? What if Tiger is considering his exit from the game after he wins his 19th major?

Stay with me for a second.

When Tiger wins that 19th major he'll set a record that, arguably, might well never be broken, let alone matched, by anyone... until, maybe... wait for it... Charlie Axel Woods matches it or breaks it. Does Tiger see Charlie as his golf-legacy's future?

Obviously, any child is his or her parents' legacy, sure, but in the case of Eldrick Tiger Woods, what better legacy could there be for the best golfer in the world than to raise the best golfer in the world? Tiger's dad successfully raised Tiger to be exactly that, and Earl was not the world's best golfer; so, why would Tiger not be able to do the same? Put another way, who better to do it? (And who's to say daughter Sam couldn't be that golfer?)

Maybe Charlie won't show any aptitude or interest, and I think (I would hope) Tiger and his wife are smart enough to allow that to be what it must be, to allow their children to make some of their own choices. But what if Charlie does show aptitude and interest?

Wouldn't that be a cool story?

I think it would be, and it'll be fun watching it all unfold, no matter how it goes. Sure, there are many things going on right now that are far more important than Tiger, Charlie, and their future together, but this is fun, and what's wrong with a little fun?

We'll have Tiger playing his best for a few more years, at least: I plan on enjoying them all.