By Leonard Shapiro
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, June 20, 2008 6:02 PM

Sometimes we sportswriters have a habit of lapsing into hyperbole. Just this week, we're seeing stories describing Tiger Woods's playoff victory in the U.S. Open as being "heroic" or "courageous" because he played with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and two stress fractures in his left tibia.

The old editor/journalism professor in me would like to advise my colleagues around the wide world of sports to reconsider the use of such descriptive adjectives in favor of terms like remarkable, phenomenal, stunning, astonishing, stirring, startling or amazing, among others.

Heroic and courageous? Better to reserve that sort of praise for the firefighters who rush into burning buildings looking for survivors, soldiers on patrol on the mean streets of Fallujah or the brave passengers who rushed the terrorists hijacking and ultimately crashed Flight 93 on 9/11.

But this much we do know: What Woods did last week, essentially winning a major golf tournament against a world-class field on one leg, will go down in sports lore as among the more memorable performances in the history of fun and games. Surely it ranks right up there with Ben Hogan's comeback to win an Open after a near fatal car crash, Emmitt Smith's decision to play an important game against the Giants with a broken shoulder, and Kirk Gibson smashing a World Series home run with a badly wounded knee.

"I don't believe what I just saw," was the late, great Jack Buck's description on national television of Gibson's gimpy trot around the bases. That's also the perfect call for what we also just witnessed at Torrey Pines, as Woods prevailed with injuries that would have caused virtually every one of his golfing colleagues to withdraw, or never enter in the first place.

Now we know why Woods called it his greatest triumph, better in his mind than that overwhelming 12-shot victory in the 1997 Masters for his first major title when he finished at 18-under par, a tournament record that still stands. Better, too, than that astonishing 15-shot margin of victory in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, when he posted 12-under and was the only man in the field to break par all week.

On my own personal goosebump meter, I'd call Augusta National in '97 and Torrey Pines 11 years later a dead heat, mainly because that first Masters victory had so many sociological implications.

I still remember Lee Elder, who in 1974 became the first African American to play in the Masters, standing near the first tee on Sunday with tears streaming down his face as he watched Woods set off on his historic final walk around a golf course.

Was Woods foolish for risking his career last week at Torrey Pines? You might say that, though he was fully aware of the risks involved and made a calculated decision to endure the pain he knew was coming in pursuit of his 14th major championship on a course he first played as a 10 year old. But surely doctors had told him they could fix what was broken and a decision to play would not be career threatening.

The conventional wisdom of medical men and women being quoted on Woods's prognosis is that no one really knows what that risk was, save for Woods's doctors. They are the only ones who have seen inside that left knee and know the extent of the damage.

The consensus also seems to be growing that Woods, because he is clearly the best conditioned athlete not only in golf, but arguably in all of sports, should be able to make a complete recovery within six to nine months, perfect timing to be making preparations to return at the 2009 Masters.

Woods tried to tough it out as long as he possibly could, even after rupturing that ACL while running last summer. And despite that injury, he chose to keep playing, a decision that netted him two more major championships -- at the 2007 PGA and last week at the 108th U.S. Open. He nearly added a Masters, as well, tying for second two months ago at Augusta National when he finally gave into the pain and decided it was time to have surgery.

He made his deal with the golfing devil, and now the payback is the end of the 2008 season for the arguably the greatest player in the history of the game.

In the wake of Woods's dramatic playoff victory, there has been widespread speculation that perhaps Woods may never be the same. To these eyes, that's way too premature, simply because none of us, save for the Salt Lake City surgeon who performed the last procedure, knows the full story, and he's not talking. Anything else you read from so-called experts in the field is pure speculation.

The 32-year-old Woods, an avid runner, now almost certainly will confine his aerobic exercise to a stationary bike, the better to save wear on tear on both knees. You can also be certain that he and his swing coach, Hank Haney, will be making some changes in his move toward the ball once he can swing free and easy again, likely dialing back the power a notch to take some pressure off his knee.

I've been privileged enough to see Woods play every one of his major championships and a fair number of other events since he turned pro in 1996. And for everyone who tells him "No you can't," Woods answers back by saying "Oh really? Just watch me." We saw it just last week, when hardly anyone gave him a chance to win the Open, certainly not eight weeks after serious surgery, walking 18 holes for the first time since then in the first round.

"I've heard that before," Woods said during his Tuesday pre-tournament news conference when someone asked him what he thought about all those who said he had no chance. And then he simply proved them all wrong.

It says here he'll do it again, with plenty more major championship opportunities in the future. He's a world-class athlete who surely will stretch the envelope when he's approaching 50 and still be competitive with the younger guys every time he tees it up.

Do the math. Starting in 2009, when he's 33, Woods will have 68 more major chances before he turns 50 to surpass Jack Nicklaus's record 18 major wins.

He's played in 46 majors since he turned pro in 1996, with 14 victories, meaning he wins one in just under four starts. If he can recover, stay healthy and focused (never an issue), the man could have close to 30 major wins by the time he's eligible for senior golf.

Maybe that sounds a tad far-fetched, but surpassing Nicklaus will be totally unrealistic if Woods doesn't do the right thing right now by doing exactly what his doctors tell him, no matter how itchy he gets to start swinging a club. No heroics necessary. Just go and get better. If you know Tiger Woods, you also have to know he surely will.

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at Len.Shapiro@washingtonpost.com.