Someone had to do it, eventually. Reign in the reverence, defer on the deference. Play Tiger Woods the man, not the legend.
An old man, with a bad back, struggling to prepare as he once did, forced into long periods of inactivity between tournaments. Talented players, younger players, had cowered from him at the Masters as if they had seen a ghost.
But here, Brooks Koepka wasn't buying it. At a tournament played in the shadow of New York, Koepka was the ghostbuster.
Tiger Woods endured a disappointing round on Thursday afternoon at the PGA Championship
Brooks Koepka (right) showed no fear playing alongside Woods, who won the Masters in April
By the time he sank a 20-foot putt on the last to break the course record and conclude seven under par, Koepka had nine shots on the reigning Masters champion.
Briefly, Woods had rallied mid-round, even hustled his way on to the leaderboard, tied with a knot of players in fifth place, but it did not last.
Woods gave back three shots in his final five holes to end the day a disappointing two over par.
Observers such as Nick Faldo had it right about Bethpage Black. Woods had won here before - the US Open in 2002 - but this is not a course that flatters him. Augusta indulges his errors. He can scramble and make a score.
Get in the wrong spot at the Black Course - with all the doom that name implies - and there are few means of escape. By the end, Woods looked tired and under-prepared, which is perhaps a more realistic take on his present state than those who made him favourite.
It took a superhuman effort for Woods to win the Masters and, without doubt, he is inspired by Augusta like nowhere else in the world.
The Black Course is a more heartless opponent. Koepka is, too. At times he reminded of nothing less than Woods in his young prime - a metronome, intense and single-minded, but one with fabulous gifts, too.
Woods could have played a great many young contemporaries on Thursday and still been in touch. He parted company with Koepka, however, on the first hole - trailing immediately by three shots - and the gap grew steadily through the day.
Woods was forced to watch on as Koepka produced his finest performance of the season so far
Frustration was etched on the face of the veteran American as his weaknesses were exposed
It didn't help that Woods had drawn the short straw on tee-off time and location - 8.24am local, and from the 10th hole.
The 10th is in a passage of arduous par fours, one of the hardest stretches on the course. Woods missed the fairway with his first, sent a wedge through the green with his second, thinned his third, ended up with a double bogey. Koepka imperiously sank a 30-foot putt for birdie. It looked a long day from that moment.
No wonder Woods sounded a little tetchy when asked about John Daly and his permission to pilot a buggy around this course.
It would have been helpful for a forty-something with a restructured back to catch a ride, too, but Woods marched instead, often many yards behind Koepka, who barely misdirected the ball until a wayward tee shot on the back nine fourth, by which time he led the tournament by two clear shots.
Koepka is very meticulous in his preparation and tailors his tournament choices to majors, but Woods' absence from competition in the build-up to this event was out of sheer necessity.
He cannot play as he once did and even cried off a planned nine holes on the eve of the competition, claiming he felt sick. How much is
