LA JOLLA, Calif. - At some point, this week wasn't totally about golf. It had more to do with will. Even if the best player of this century kept providing us with freeze frames that they still will be showing at the turn of the next one.

Tiger Woods probably shouldn't have come to Torrey Pines. Even if it is his personal playpen. His left knee wasn't ready. This wasn't a warmup, but a U.S. Open, which he hadn't won since 2002. Which is why the only thing that could have kept him away was a restraining order. Don't think the rest of the field didn't consider it.

No one knew what would happen. Not even Tiger.

Didn't stop him from turning it into perhaps his finest hour. If you've been paying attention, you understand that is some statement.

"It's either this, or my first [major, the 1997 Masters]," said Tiger, who now has 14 to choose from. "This week had a lot of doubt to it, to be honest."

Maybe it wasn't Ben Hogan at Merion in 1950. Tiger wasn't coming back from a near-fatal car wreck. But he hadn't played since having arthroscopic surgery 2 months ago. Hadn't even walked 18 holes before Thursday.

He made four double-bogeys to go with three eagles. Wincing and limping almost every step of the way.

In each of his last three rounds, he came to the par-5 18th hole trailing by one. On Saturday he shot a 3, to take the lead into the closing 18 holes, a position from which he's never lost a major. Sunday, he made a 12-foot birdie putt to tie Rocco Mediate and force an 18-hole playoff. And yesterday, he holed a 4-footer for birdie after again reaching the green in two, to extend things into sudden death with an even-par 71.

It ended on the 91st hole, which was at least 19 more than Tiger's knee really needed. With a par. When Mediate couldn't convert a 20-footer for his 4, missing a tad to the right, Tiger was 15-2 in playoffs and it was his trophy. Again.

But this was different.

"I knew I could walk, it was just going to be a little bit on the slow side," said Tiger, who led yesterday by three strokes after 10 holes, but headed off 15 one down. "I was just trying to get through the week. Everyone plays with injuries, whatever it is. Roc's done it pretty much his whole career, with his bad back.

"You suck it up and get it done."

Think Willis Reed at Madison Square Garden. Or Kirk Gibson at Dodger Stadium. Even Michael Jordan with the flu. Only Tiger had to do it 5 straight days.

He's now won four of the last eight majors. To go with three seconds.

It's the third time he's won this one. Which means he has at least a hat trick in all four. And he's only four behind Jack Nicklaus, who didn't get his 14th until he was 35. And didn't reach 15 until 3 years later.

Tiger is 32.

"It's hard to believe I'm in this situation, you know?" said Tiger, who actually opened with a par, after playing his first hole in 7-over in regulation. "It's hard to believe I've had this nice a run in my career. Hopefully, it will continue."

He finally acknowledged that his doctors didn't want him to be here. And that he could have caused more damage by playing. Did he?

"Maybe," he answered. "I pushed it pretty hard. I just want to enjoy it. We're going to re-evaluate and see what happens. I think I need to shut it down for a little bit here. It's a bit sore. I need to take a little bit of a break."

The British Open is a month away. His own event in the nation's capital is the first week of July. He probably isn't certain what's next, or when. The knee could be an issue forever. So be it.

"All athletes deal with injuries," he said. "That's just part of playing sports. Sports isn't usually kind to the body. Weird things happen, and that's just the way it is.

"But it's about dealing with it and giving it your best. There are never any excuses. You just go play. That's the beauty of it . . . getting out there and enjoying the opportunity to compete. Whether you're 100 percent or not, it doesn't matter. You're out there in that environment, so let's go.

"I wasn't going to bag it. I think everyone knows me well enough. It's not my nature. I don't know how to do that. It helped to have the energy from all the fans. You're trying to feed off it somehow. Because there were times when it stung quite a bit. You always try to use everything to your advantage anyway, trying to be a rationalist. It's part of playing. It's been sore for a while. I just deal with it.

"As for future ramifications, I'm not really good at listening to doctor's orders too well," he continued. "Hey, I won this week. So it is what it is. Get it done. The atmosphere was great. [The fans] made the tournament. Today was just unreal, honestly. Ninety holes wasn't enough. You just keep pushing and pushing. But I'm glad I'm done. I really don't feel like playing anymore."

Mediate certainly would have liked to have gone at least one more. Or as many as it took to change history.

At 45, he was trying to become the oldest man to win this major. And the oldest first-time winner of any. It would have been the greatest upset in this game since Francis Ouimet beat Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in the 1913 U.S. Open playoff. Or was that Jack Fleck over Hogan in the 1955 playoff?

Tiger was the story. But this was Rocco's moment, too.

"[Tiger's] unreal," he said, for about the 50th time in 2 days. "They wanted a show, and they got one. I got what I wanted. A chance to beat the best in the world. I came up a little short. But I think I did scare him a little.

"I got my wish. But I want to do it again. Now."

His near-miss moved him from 158 to 47 in the world rankings.

"It was like a prizefight," said Mediate, who missed a 20-foot putt on the 18th hole that would have won it. "No one expected me to [stick around] that long, or survive, and he had to birdie the last to tie me. Again. And he did it. It's amazing."

If this championship had been held anywhere but a place where Tiger's won a dozen times going back to his junior days, maybe this doesn't happen.

We know only what went down. And it was a keeper, from a guy who defines indelible.

This was the first Father's Day he was able to share with his daughter Sam, who celebrates her first birthday tomorrow. Once, he broke down in tears after winning a major for the first time after his father Earl's death. This time, he got to hold the future.

Different emotions. Identical satisfaction.

"It means everything [to have Sam here]," Tiger said. "It really does. I used to talk to my dad after winning tournaments. I can't do that anymore. I'm experiencing the other side now . . .

"I could have very easily [quit]. But I'd never do that, not in front of these people. That's never going to happen.

"I don't know how it even got this far. But I'm very fortunate. For some reason, through all those ups and downs, it just happened to be [my] week. Just amazing."

It often is. *