Imrem: Woods or not, time marches on at Masters
Time is an express train that stops for no man, woman or child.
Sort of like sports.
Oh, pity the poor Masters golf tournament that begins Thursday at Augusta National.
Tiger Woods isn't entered. He's taking longer to recover from whatever ails him than Derrick Rose takes to work out general soreness.
Tiger Who?
Woods isn't Woods anymore anyway and hasn't been since friskily playing around took a toll on him Tigerishly playing a round.
The fear has been that Woods' decline wouldn't signal merely the decline of golf but the end of the sport and maybe the world.
Augusta National would have to be domed and converted into a roller rink. All the major tournaments would transition to bocce ball. Kids would return to football.
Well, no.
Professional golf might not be the same as when Woods was rockin', but it's doing quite well.
Just as Arnie followed Ben and Jack followed Arnie and Tiger followed Jack, someone special will come along sometime to follow Tiger.
Nothing ever said that the next has to be better than the previous in any sport. He or she just has to dominate his or her era.
Like, Villanova wouldn't beat many past NCAA basketball champions, but its victory this week sure was exciting and, of course, the 2016 Warriors wouldn't beat the '98 Bulls.
The Babe has been dead for decades, but Joltin' Joe and the Splendid Splinter carried on for him, then Mickey, Willie and the Duke did for them, and on and on, right up to Harper, Trout and Bryant today.
Baseball seems to be doing OK, don't you think?
There never would be another with Johnny U.'s talent or Broadway Joe's charisma until Montana and Elway came along and then Manning and Brady did and now Newton and Wilson have.
The NFL hasn't exactly collapsed, has it?
Then there's the NBA, which could never overcome the loss of His Royal Airness if he ever really retired for good.
But along came Kobe to cover MJ's hits, though never match them, and then LeBron surfaced and now Steph has.
Somehow the NBA playoffs will start this month, won't they?
Left-right, tick-tock, left-right, tick-tock … one foot after another, moment by moment … sports march on as time passes.
The PGA Tour experienced a bit of a drop-off at the top of the quality scale after Nicklaus faded following his Masters victory at age 46 in 1986.
But then along came some guy nicknamed Tiger to elevate the game to a higher level than Nicklaus and Palmer could have imagined.
Now, as Woods sits out, the Masters will tee off Thursday to great anticipation and with an exciting field of fresh faces.
No one golfer has replaced Woods yet and maybe never will, though that also was the sentiment as Nicklaus faded.
But an Aussie (Jason Day), American (Jordan Spieth) and Irishman (Rory McIlroy) represent a good start toward finding someone to succeed Woods.
If those three don't fulfill their potential, maybe one of the other current 20-somethings like Rickie Fowler or even some youngster still in college will.
Whether Tiger Woods ever plays another major golf tournament, he won't be forgotten any more than history's other greats were.
However, time and sports will survive and probably thrive without him.
mimrem@dailyherald.com