Woods no longer dominant, and that’s OK

WAUGUSTA, Ga. HEN Tiger Woods knocked one into the water at Amen Corner for the second day in a row, he headed off toward the Nelson Bridge while his two playing partners took a more familiar route to the 12th green over the Hogan Bridge.

In a sense, those divergent paths were the perfect analogy for where Woods is at this stage of his career.

He might add another major title to his amazing record.

Maybe even two.

But he’s not catching Jack Nicklaus, and his days of dominating on the PGA Tour are done.

He’s going one way. The kids are going another.

Golf, like all sports, belongs to the youth.

With an exception or two, they’ll be the ones battling for the green jacket at Augusta National this weekend. Patrick Reed. Rory Mcilroy. Jordan Spieth. Justin Thomas. Rickie Fowler. All members of the 20-something club.

As Stephen Colbert once joked in his previous job as a fake talk show host, “Folks, I don’t trust children. They’re here to replace us.”

Indeed, they are.

For all the warranted excitement over Woods’ remarkable comeback from back fusion surgery — and make no mistake, no one gets the patrons going like Tiger — he’ll head to Saturday a daunting 13 shots behind the front-running Reed.

The largest 36-hole comeback at the Masters was Jack Burke Jr. rallying from eight shots down to beat Ken Venturi in 1956, and only because the amateur soared to an 80 on the final day.

Woods has no shot of chasing down a star-packed leaderboard that includes eight major winners among the top 14 players, not to mention the guy considered the best without a major title (Fowler) and another potential star in the making (Reed).

The average age of the top 14 players is 32 years old — a decade younger than Woods.

Six of them are under 30.

While it hasn’t shown this week, the Masters will likely be Woods’ best shot at winning another major championship, something he hasn’t done since hobbling to a playoff victory at the 2008 U.S. Open.

But he even on a course that he clearly knows so well, winning four green jackets, finishing in the top 10 nine other times and never missing the cut as a professional, Woods looked largely overmatched in the first two rounds

The bravado was all gone.

“I need help. I’m not in control of my own destiny,” he moaned. “I’m so far back.”

Woods has been stuck on 14 major titles for nearly a decade.

Even though his health is as good as it’s been in years — and that’s certainly good for the game — he is now facing a staggering array of young guns who barely remember a time when Woods was the man to beat on the PGA Tour.

They certainly aren’t the least bit intimidated by him.

Before the Masters even began, Woods conceded that most of his best days are behind him. There’s no more talk of chasing down Nicklaus. He seems content just being able to play without pain, for however long that lasts.

“Six months ago, I didn’t know if I was going to play again,” Woods said. “It’s incredible. I’m just so thankful to have this opportunity to be able to play golf again. Playing at a championship level, playing at a Tour level, is such a bonus. I wanted to play golf again. It’s something I’ve done virtually my whole life. I missed it.”

We missed him, too.

And if this is as good as it gets, that’s good enough.