So Tiger Woods is done for the year as a result of needing knee surgery, just days after winning the U.S. Open.

Every time you think you’ve seen everything Tiger Woods can do on a golf course, he comes up with something else that makes you shake your head in amazement and marvel at his talent, discipline, drive, and accomplishments. Take this past weekend, for instance. To have prevailed and won a five-day, 91-hole marathon called the U.S. Open Championship when you’re not 100% healthy is one thing – to do it with with a torn ligament in your left knee and a double stress fracture in your left leg is an incredible feat. Keep in mind it’s just not all the pressure that goes with a major championship and all the golf shots he had to make over that five-day period – he also had to walk the course those five days. And never mind all the time at the range, the practice shots, and all the off-course obligations that go with an event like the U.S. Open.

We who follow professional golf, whether professionally or casually, are truly privileged to do so in the Tiger Woods era. Talk all you want about the advantages the modern professional golfer has in this day and age – equipment, golf courses, ease of travel, the money, etc. – Tiger keeps showing us time and again why he will go down in history as the greatest golfer that ever lived.

A speedy recovery to Tiger, and we look forward to seeing him back out on the links in 2009.