What if Tiger Woods Retired at 28 Like Lorena Ochoa?

Last week's announcement by Lorena Ochoa that she would be retiring from professional golf and the LPGA Tour at 28 was quite surprising.  Fans of the women's game knew that Ochoa was not long for an extensive career, but for the world number one to abandon her career before the ten year mark required for admission to the Hall of Fame on resume alone was befuddling.

Ochoa remains atop the women's golf world, albeit precariously ahead of a small handful of players seeking to take that spot.  Yani Tseng, Ai Miyazato, and Jiyai Shin are the names that seem to be floating around as the next to assume the top of the mountain on the LPGA Tour.

Ochoa leaves full-time competition with 27 victories, including 2 majors, and a slew of records - including becoming the first woman to win $4 million in a single season.  She had won three times last season and managed to win Player of the Year despite what appeared to be a clear struggle to balance the transition to married life with her professional dominance.  She now leaves the game with a sense of happiness and peace about what she accomplished, moving on to raising a family and being very active with her charitable work in Mexico.

Compare Ochoa's achievements at her age with Tiger Woods, and the natural question follows: what if Tiger Woods did the same thing Lorena just did?

Tiger Woods turned pro in 1996 at the Greater Milwaukee Open ("Hello, world").  In that opening season, he won twice.  In the next two seasons, he tallied five wins - including an obliteration of Augusta National and the sport at the '97 Masters. 

Following the '98 season which saw him struggle with swing changes he opted to implement with then-coach Butch Harmon, the second half of 1999 saw Woods end the decade in style.  He won eight times that year, including his second major at the PGA Championship.  2000 was more remarkable.  Woods took eight more titles, but overwhelmed the field at three majors to reach the career grand slam for the first time.

In 2001, Woods began the second millennium CE with five wins and another Masters title.  He struggled in the remaining majors with it evident that his run of dominance was nearly impossible to sustain.  2002 showed a return to glory with another two major titles at the Masters and the US Open at Bethpage.

2003 was the season that indicated Woods would need to revamp his game again.  Despite five wins on the PGA Tour, Woods had no majors to his credit that season.  All four majors were won by first timers to that stage.  In a final sign of frustration, Woods finished the year T26 at the Tour Championship.

Imagine if Woods had stopped there.  After all, he would turn 28 in December '03.  He would have been able to walk away from the game with more than half of his major titles - eight in that span - and thirty-eight PGA Tour wins.  If Woods had quit golf at the same point in his life as Lorena Ochoa is after this week, Woods would clearly still be a Hall of Famer.  He would still be in the pantheon of all-time greats, even without another six majors and some thirty more PGA Tour wins.

The questions were creeping in about Woods, though, at the end of 2003.  Though he was clearly still the best player in the world, Vijay Singh was creeping on his heels. The Fijian finished his last five events of '03 inside the top five.  It was evident that Singh was growing stronger.

What if Woods had decided to leave right then and there?  Obviously with a cemented legacy, Woods would have never been doubted as a great.  Even if he played an extra season - he was married in October 2004 - Woods still would not have had his legacy or reputation tarnished by the one win season the next year.

It seems like blasphemy to consider that Woods might have ever walked away from the game less than halfway to his goal of Jack Nicklaus' majors record.  Lorena Ochoa wasn't even close to breaking that record on the LPGA side.  But, Ochoa probably had another five to seven years of really strong golf left in her.  Now, we'll be left to wonder what may have been, and if her dominating days were at their end or, like Woods twice in his career so far, in a lull period.