I'm afraid you're correct, but Woods will never be the man Jones, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus were! No matter how much the media idolizes him and wish for a comeback, he will never get the respect those men have to the real golf historian!
Woods has never carried himself with class as those gentlemen did and he'll never take Nicklaus/Palmers' place as ambassadors for the sport, period.
It is truly disappointing the way they long for a Woods comeback. I can vaguely remember when Nicklaus won 2 Majors in 1980 at 40 years old, he went through that 6 year drought before he won his 6th green jacket and 18th Major at 46 years old! I don't remember the media falling apart in worry and clinging to Nicklaus the way they do Woods. They had totally written him off and didn't seem to care. They had moved on with Seve, Norman, etc. However, it was remarkable what Nicklaus had done at his age. Today, they use words like Superhuman for Tiger. Woods couldn't hold Jack's jock if he had to go back and play with equipment he had and the competition he played against. Jack was driving it 300+ yards with persimmon woods with a sweet spot the size of a dime and competing with players like Palmer, Watson, Trevino, Player, and Floyd, etc. If anyone was superhuman it was Jack! Brandel Chamblee made the statement that Woods had no competition from '05-'08. I think Woods won 6 of his Majors in that span.
Sadly, we're going to have to endure this with every tournament Woods enters unless he misses the cut. I will say this about Woods. I was surprised the other day at his press conference when they asked about his comeback. He invoked the great Ben Hogan's name! Saying, Hogan's comeback was the greatest of all time." Hogan who nearly died in a car crash in 1949 only to comeback and win the US Open in 1950! I would say Hogan may have been the greatest golfer of all time. IMO it's between He and Nicklaus.
Anyway, looking forward to great finish to The Masters!
Can Reed win his first Major? Will Rory get the career slam? How about a 42 year old not named Tiger, named Stenson slip on the Green Jacket. or maybe Rickie Fowler gets his first Major or the 23 year old Rahm!