Tiger Woods was gone from the PGA Championship by early afternoon, four

Tiger Woods was gone from the PGA Championship by early afternoon, four over for the tournament and a long way from Oak Hill by the time the trophy presentation began. He always said majors were the events he wanted to be measured by, so it should have come as no surprise when a fan reminded him of that, yelling “Masters 2014!” even as Woods trudged up the final fairway.

Asked afterward whether it would be tough to wait until next spring to resume his chase of Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 career majors, the glazed-over look in Woods’ eyes was familiar as well.

“The only time it was really hard was going into ’01,” he began. “That was really tough because I was asked, basically every day and every round for eight months, ‘Is it a grand slam? Are you going to try and win all four?’ ”

That was at the end of the 2000 season, but it seems like a lifetime ago now. Woods won the US Open, British Open and PGA Championship in succession that year, roughly the middle of an incredible run when he collected seven majors in four years.