Smallwood: No interest in seeing Tiger Woods play like Eldrick

I CANNOT SPEAK for other people, but I have little interest in seeing Eldrick Woods play golf. I've witnessed the extraordinary greatness of Tiger Woods, and if that player, or at least a reasonable facsimile, is incapable of returning to the PGA Tour someday, I will be satisfied with my memories.

Watching Woods, 40, flounder around for a decade as just another player until he is old enough to become a novelty item on the PGA Tour Champions is not something I want to do.

There are a few legacies in sports that are so great that they should not be sullied by a futile attempt to return to a level of greatness that is no longer obtainable.

Whether it is more because of the personal demons that ruined his family life and pristine image or the series of devastating injuries that stripped his physical abilities, Tiger Woods has moved on to join Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Jones on the Mount Rushmore of golfers.

That happened long before Monday, when Woods delayed yet another comeback attempt by withdrawing from this week's Safeway Open and the Turkish Airlines Open, which starts Nov. 3.

"My game is vulnerable and not where it needs to be," the 14-time major champion said, blaming a lack of practice time. "It's not up to my standards, and I don't think it would be up to yours."

Woods is correct on both accounts. His game is not up to my standards.

I'm no golf junkie. I don't spend weekends watching any PGA event that is on television.

I'm a casual golf fan, who basically comes around for the show, and, from 1997 to 2009, there was no better show than Tiger Woods. In that 12-year span, Woods won 14 majors and 72 PGA Tour events; overall, in 18 years, he has 79 PGA wins, which ranks second all time.

Sam Snead, who holds the PGA record, with 82 wins, did it over a 30-year span.
Nicklaus leads with 18 career majors and 72 PGA wins, in a 25-year period.

Woods, because of his multi-ethnic background, including an African American father, brought a new level of excitement to fans who had been historically unwelcomed in the world of elite golf.

You didn't have to be a full-fledged fan of boxing to watch a Muhammad Ali fight or of basketball to watch Michael Jordan or hockey to watch Wayne Gretzky.

Only a few athletes can inspire people to become engaged in the sport primarily to see them perform.

Because of a convergence of cultural changes at the time he burst onto the scene, Woods might possibly have been the ultimate must-see athlete.
His career, however, faltered in November 2009, when the scandal of his extramarital affairs became public, and has been marred by injuries and inconsistency since.

Woods' last great year was 2013, when he won five PGA events. He's entered only 18 tournaments since, none this year. He's had three surgeries on his back in the past 20 months.

The man who revolutionized golf for the new century has seen the game pass him by.

At 40, Woods, if he ever gets healthy, enough still has time to pass Snead's win total.
With a return to good health, consistent play and a lot of luck, Woods might have a slim chance of catching Nicklaus, who won his 18th major at age 46.

Still, the era of "Tiger dominance" is gone.

Whatever else Woods accomplishes in golf will be done as Eldrick, or perhaps his middle name — Tont. He'll be just another golfer, and I don't want to see that.