"It certainly is a huge void to fill," said Dan Hicks, who was at Torrey Pines last week to describe Woods' incredible U.S. Open victory on NBC, a victory that became all the more astonishing with Wednesday's announcement that Woods was playing with a torn ACL and two stress fractures in his leg.

"He's the engine that drives the sport and it's not going to feel the same without him in the big events," Hicks said. "There's no doubt."

Just as there's no doubt the TV networks, which get a huge ratings spike every time Woods plays, will miss him the way the NBA still misses Michael Jordan. The good news is that unlike Jordan, Woods is due back in 2009.

"I don't want this to have the feeling of a guy's career is over," Hicks said Thursday.

"I'm sure on a surgically repaired knee he has a lot better chance to play better than on a knee that's not functional," said Jim Nantz, Hicks' counterpart as the lead golf voice at CBS. "There's no reason for him not to come back bigger and better than before. He's been playing on one leg for the better part of a year."

If nothing else, the other players, who couldn't beat a one-legged Woods, will get their chance to be noticed. There are still tournaments to be played, and televised.

"It's not like we at CBS are going to try 29 percent less than we did before because Tiger gives us a 29 percent bump in the ratings," Nantz said, actually understating the bump. "We still have some exciting tournaments to broadcast. We still have a major championship coming up at Oakland Hills (the PGA in August).

"We can't hide the fact the one guy who is the dominant player in his sport and in all sports will be absent. (But) I'm not going to be hanging any asterisks on the winners, because that wouldn't be fair."

Woods figured to play nine more times this season, including the Ryder Cup, where his absence probably will be felt the least. NBC and CBS each will televise four of those events, while ABC will carry the British Open, which will be the first major without Woods since the 1996 PGA.

The best-case scenario is for Woods to return early next year, either at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines (Feb. 5-8 on CBS) or the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship outside Tucson (Feb. 25-March 1 on NBC).

Nantz said after hearing Wednesday's news he "instantly" did the math and realized Woods could make his comeback at the Buick.

"That would be a fitting piece of symmetry to have him return there, and a confidence builder, because he's won there after injury on a couple of occasions," said Nantz, referring to the 2003 Buick and the Open, both of which followed knee surgeries. "I think that would be the spot he's got to be aiming for.

"I don't know if he'll be on the North or South that Thursday morning or afternoon, but I plan on being there."

And if Woods' return comes at Tucson or even in March in Florida, Hicks will be there. Then again, one of those two has been present for nearly all of Woods' magical moments - not that they ever stop being amazed.

"Already it was one of those events that had lasting greatness all over it," Nantz said of the Open. "Now, with the context of what Tiger played through, it will rank up there with the great performances of all time. It's amazing to think the guy can, on one leg, take on the world and beat 'em all."

Nantz couldn't speak first-hand about the weekend atmosphere at Torrey Pines, since he left town before Woods began play in the third round, but Hicks was at the course the entire week and said he's never seen anything like it.

"That is the most electric time I've ever had in the broadcast booth," Hicks said. Before the Open, Hicks said that distinction belonged to the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline, where the United States made an amazing Sunday comeback. But that was one day. The Open was so much more.

"When Tiger shot that back-nine 30 on Friday," Hicks said, "I thought this is shaping up into what could really be a special event. ... That finish on Saturday, I thought this has a chance to go down as one of the all-time greats. And then after Sunday, I said this is one of the all-time greats. And after Monday, I think we were all doing a reality check after it all ended, saying, 'Did this all just really happen?'"

Nantz said he expects Torrey Pines to host another Open in about 10 years, which would mean another chance to relive what so many of us just had the privilege to see.

"You hear people talk about the old Ben Hogan stories," said Hicks, 46. "Of course, 1950, I wasn't around, and those are just grainy black-and-white footage and photos. But we all lived this.

"So when we all get to be in our own rocking chairs we can all say that we were at Torrey Pines in 2008. I really think that's the kind of memories we'll have of it."

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