Expectations getting higher as Woods gets older

SAN DIEGO >> The expectations seem to get higher even as Tiger Woods gets older.

Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

Of course, it doesn’t quell expectations when Woods is the Masters champion.

Just the image of that red shirt under a green jacket was enough to believe he could win at least three more majors to catch Jack Nicklaus.

And then there’s Japan. That’s where Woods returned from a two-month break following maintenance surgery on his left knee and went wire-to-wire in the Zozo

Championship. It was his 82nd victory on the PGA Tour, tying the record that Sam Snead had to himself for the previous 69 years.

Need more? Look no further than Royal Melbourne, where Woods split time as Presidents Cup captain and player, and he won all three matches he played. He was particularly crisp on a course that demanded precision.

And now he returns at Torrey Pines, where he has won eight times in his pro career, including the 2008 U.S. Open.

Woods showed up Jan. 21 in the drizzle of a gray sky.

GolfTV, with which he has an endorsement deal, was there to document Woods tying his shoes at his car and walking through the parking lot.

The next victory is for the record, if not now then soon.

“Just trying to get to 83 ... I really don’t think about it because I have to think about all the things I need to do to win the tournaments,” Woods said. “There’s so many different shots I have to play, and strategy, and thinking my way around the golf course, that I’m more consumed in that.”

Good health is tantamount to good play, particularly for a guy who turned 44 last month and has had more back surgeries (4) than victories (3) in the last five years.

And as much resiliency as Woods has shown in returning from so many dark times brought on by so much uncertainty, there is a practical side to him. It’s never easy to win, no matter how often he once made it look that way.

One of the more telling momentswas at this tournament in 2008. Woods made birdie on the 18 th hole of the tough er South Course at Tor rey to open with a 67. John Wood, at the time cad dying for Hunter Ma han in the group ahead, stayed behind to watch and said ,“He just won two tournaments with one round .” Woods won by eight shots that week, and the U.S. Open that summer.