Woods Defeat Will Help Temper Golf's Great Expectations

To the chagrin of everyone involved with the WGC Match Play Championship, except the 16 players who arrived at the Ritz-Carlton golf club with a chance of winning the $1.4m (£1m) winner's check, Tiger Woods will spend this weekend at home with his family in Florida.

Tim Clark's 3&2 victory over the world No1 did not come without a few jittery moments - not least when his opponent holed a bunker shot from off the 14th green - but in the end it was comfortable for the South African, who advanced to face Rory McIlroy in yesterday's third round.

For Woods, there was a quick exit to the airport and time to reflect on a return to the sport that can be judged a qualified success: a success because he showed no effects from the knee surgery that kept him out for more than eight months; qualified because, well, Clark, not Woods, qualified to play the Irish teenager.

"Maybe there will be another time," McIlroy said when asked how he felt about missing the opportunity to take part in a head-to-head contest that might have been one for the ages but must forever remain one for the imagination.

It is safe to assume there will be another time for the Irishman and Woods. More immediately, when will Woods make his next appearance on tour? Typically, he was gnomic when the subject was broached after his defeat to Clark - "Don't know," he said, shrugging - but it would be something of a surprise if he did not enter the CA Championship, which tees off at Doral in Miami in 12 days' time.

Woods has long made it clear he wanted to play at least a couple of events before the US Masters in April. He has won the Doral event six times and, after an unexpected loss in Tucson, he would no doubt like to give himself the best chance possible of winning, if only to re...#8209;establish himself as the head of the pack.

More practically, he will want to test his restored knee under tournament conditions for 72 holes. "I was very pleased that walking down the cart paths and obviously playing, getting some rhythm of playing, that I have no soreness, no pain," he said. "Now it's just a matter of getting back and playing more rounds."

Only the naive would make the mistake of underestimating the Tiger-centric tendencies of the American public, but the expectations, and the hype, might be somewhat lowered when he does make his next tournament appearance, if only out of respect for the other players.

As Clark proved during the first two rounds of the Match Play, when he did not make a bogey, there are no mugs at this level of professional golf. Woods may be the dominant figure in the sport by far, but those who welcomed him back like a messiah should not have expected him to come back after an eight-month lay-off and dominate as he had done before.

As the world No1 pointed out earlier in the week, there is a difference between the practice range and the first tee, between playing with friends for a few dollars and competing against the best players in the world for a million dollars-plus.

In a sport of small margins, these are significant distinctions. Those who did not know that, or did not want to acknowledge it before, know better now.