There is a certain orderliness to Tiger Woods' impending return date of Oct. 13, one that provides some balance and symmetry to his theoretical schedule. It comes nearly six months to the day before the final round of next year's Masters Tournament.
That should also serve as the first checkpoint at which we can judge his comeback.
As difficult as it might be in today's society of instant analysis, we should place a moratorium on proclaiming Woods' future successes or failures until he's been competing for these six months and until he gets past that next major championship.
That's all pie-in-the-sky thinking, of course.
What is more likely is that Woods pushes his opening tee shot of the Safeway Classic right of the fairway, misses the green with his approach, then chips and two-putts for a fairly routine bogey -- and he's denounced as forever being stuck on 79 wins and 14 majors and should probably just ride off into the sunset while his body is still intact.
Or he'll pummel a drive right down the middle on that first hole, knock a laser-beam approach to 10 feet and easily roll in the birdie attempt -- and immediately recall the memories of his past exploits, with observers ready to hand him five more majors in this final chapter of his career.
Although each of those scenarios sounds laughable, both are just as plausible, with the masses providing that need-it-now analysis after every swing.
That's a ludicrous way to judge any golfer, obviously, especially one returning after what will have been 14 months away from the game.
Think of it this way: When a scientist is compiling data as part of an experiment, he doesn't take the first sample and simply multiply to create assumed conclusions. Instead, that data is culled from a larger pool to create an effective means of analysis.
By the same measure, we shouldn't judge by the swing or the hole or the round or even the tournament. Woods himself is likely viewing these events as the equivalent to spring training, and while it's perfectly normal to be intrigued by his return, we shouldn't base the guy's future on some early at-bats. Or reps, as he so often refers to them.
No, six months feels like it will provide enough tournament starts -- if he indeed remains healthy and plays a full schedule -- to then begin making some long-term claims about his future performance level.
At that point, we will have witnessed any ongoing tweaks to his ever-evolving swing; we'll know whether he has completely overcome those ugly chipping yips; we'll see how comfortable he looks and feels under the microscope once again; and, perhaps most importantly, we'll understand where he ranks against the competition.
That was always going to be the biggest hurdle for Woods in this latest return. Even if he's healthy after three back surgeries, even if he finds a swing that works for him, even if he feels confident and doesn't show impatience, the biggest hurdle will be returning to a level at which he can beat the likes of Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.
This doesn't need to happen on a weekly basis. Hell, nobody wins on a weekly basis. But if there are even a few times a year -- especially if those times are at the majors -- when his game stacks up favorably against the world's best, that will be the greatest measuring stick for any progress he will have made.
This won't happen with one swing, of course. It won't happen in one round, or even one tournament.
Let's give him six months. This seems like a fair amount of time before proclaiming that Woods is excitedly back or sadly done. That will get him past those early reps and past that first major, and should offer us enough data to make a worthy observation.