Let’s play the What If game and imagine that all had been well in the Kingdom of Tiger Woods. Thanksgiving 2009 never happened, blown muscles and knees never happened. My suspicion is, Tiger Woods might have won the Masters and nothing more in 2011.

Congressional Country Club was a monstrous birdie-fest for Rory McIlroy. Would the course have tolerated two such conquerors? Who knows. It might have been similar to Tiger v. Bob May or Tiger v. Sergio. It would have been interesting to see 2000 US Open Tiger versus 2011 US Open Rory.

Royal St. George’s, the quirkiest of repeat major championship sites, identified another unexpected champion in Darren Clarke. Would it have been kind to Tiger Woods? Methinks no. Traditional favorites traditionally don’t walk away from RSG with a title, while the Bill Rogers, Ben Curtis and Darren Clarkes of the world fare quite well with little pre-tournament fanfare.

And Atlanta Athletic Club, site of the 2011 PGA Championship? Well, it bears little resemblance to its in-state neighbor, Augusta National, so it wouldn’t have been a happy hunting ground for Tiger Woods for its Georgia roots alone. As we saw, Tiger’s lack of driving control betrayed him all the way to a missed cut.

As Jack Nicklaus once revealed, his poor short putting put pressure on his longer putts, back to his chipping and pitching, approach shots, all the way to the driver. It is apparent that a similar hierarchy of flaws might have Tiger in its grasp as well, a 35-40 year old issue. When Tiger again gains control over the short putts, he’ll find more confidence in every other aspect of his game to boot.