After a second round 82 that left him packing his bags early on Friday at the Phoenix Open, Tiger uncharacteristically stopped and chatted with reporters about his strange performance.

There was no sign of stress or worry about the state of his game. He laughed it off and discussed how he was “in between new and old swing patterns.”

It’s like he’s been here before.

This isn’t the first time that Tiger has needed to work out the kinks in his game and struggled to find his form after switching to a new swing coach.

We’ve seen this before from Tiger. And, we’ve seen him bounce back.

So why are we so worried (even though he doesn’t seem the least bit concerned)?

We don’t like it when our star athletes lose their game. We’re used to Tiger taking it to the field with a single fist pump. We fear that if he is losing it and getting old – what chance have we got.

What we’ve quickly forgotten about Tiger is that he is a virtuoso. When he talks about reps, “feels” and release patterns, we need to appreciate that he is on a different playing field than you or I.

Losing and finding his game is nothing new. He’s always been striving for golf’s unattainable pursuit: the perfect game.

Tiger will bounce back. And, it will be sooner than you think.