Tiger Woods: You Know It's Bad When People Are Excited Because...

You lead the first round of a tournament.

That's John Daly territory. That's David Duvall.

Not the greatest player of your generation. Not the golfer who was supposed to supplant Nicklaus as the greatest of all time.  

I don't know what going to happen to Tiger at this point.

I know a lot of people figure he'll come out of his funk and start winning again like the old days. 

But golf isn't that easy. 

I not saying I know what it's like to be a pro golfer. But I have eyes. I've seen a lot of players go from one of the best to just another guy on the tour more times than I count.

A slightest change in a swing, a minor switch in putting style, or even the inability to concentrate on each and every shot can change a pro golfer's fortunes forever.

Golf truly is witchcraft, as Jim Rome likes to say. 

What really disturbed me this week was the reaction to a single good round. 

People were suddenly saying he's back. The divorce being final was all he needed to become the old Tiger.

Eldrick himself started talking about overtaking Nicklaus after his opening round 65.

Get out of the way Jack it's all over now came the headlines. Tiger's back, baby.

You would have thought Tiger won the tournament. I'm sorry, but you're in trouble when a first round lead is news.

When people are saying things like, "Wouldn't it be a great story if he was on the leader board on Sunday?" you're closer to the end of the line than the beginning.

You know your football team stinks if people are excited you're 2-0. You know you're scrub if folks are excited because you're hitting .300 in April.

Those kinds of feel good stories are for players who aren't very good or past their primes. It means no one thinks you can keep it up so they better write the article now.

Those are the kinds of stories they wrote about Tiger this week.

The fact that Tiger quickly folded on Friday and Saturday can't be a good sign either.

Does that mean Tiger won't be back? I really don't know.

But he sure ain't back yet. And until he actually strings together two or three good rounds no one should get too excited.

And until he wins something, I don't think we anyone should be talking Nicklaus. That includes Tiger.