Earl Woods was no stage father.

The last time he watched Tiger Woods play in a tournament was at the end of his son’s worst year on the PGA Tour, in December 2004 at the Target Word Challenge. He stayed out of the way, riding in a cart that was parked behind a wall of spectators.

Tiger knew he was there all along.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen him on the golf course following my play in a lot of years,” was the first thing Woods said that day after rallying to win with a 66 in the final round. “It was pretty exciting for me.”

Woods donated the $1.25 million check to the Tiger Woods Foundation, which his father helped establish, to pay for the $25 million Tiger Woods Learning Center, which his father inspired.

Nothing bothered Earl more than being compared with an overzealous father of a famous athlete. A former Green Beret who served two tours in Vietnam, his death Wednesday is notable because of his son. But his intention was never to raise a champion golfer.

“My greatest satisfaction is that he’s a good person,” Earl once said.

He died of cancer at home in Cypress, Calif., the modest house where he raised his son and refused to move even after Tiger was making close to $90 million a year in endorsements and could have built him a palace.

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Earl said he might turn the place into a museum one day.

The garage is where Tiger sat in a high chair, mesmerized by the motion of his father swinging a golf club. Then one day he climbed out of the chair and produced what Earl said was a flawless swing. The bedroom is where Tiger tacked a chart on his wall of everything Jack Nicklaus achieved and at what age.

“His expectations are a lot higher than anything you or I would ever imagine,” Earl said in one of several interviews. “He was imagining winning the Grand Slam when he was 10 years old.”

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Tiger had the career Grand Slam at age 24, the youngest ever. He held all four professional majors at age 25, the first ever.

Tiger wanted to be like his father.

They played golf nearly every day, although Earl would make his son call him at work and ask if they could practice. Earl set par higher than it really was, reducing it as Tiger got better so he wouldn’t be rattled by shooting a low score. He trained him to be mentally tough, saying things like, “Water on the right” when Tiger was in the middle of his swing.

Two years ago, Tiger spent a week at Army Special Forces training in Fort Bragg, N.C., still trying to walk in his father’s footsteps. At the Buick Invitational this year, in the middle of his second round, Tiger talked about Navy Seals having to take a boat ride out to an island in water so choppy some of them had bruised ribs. If not for golf, he probably would be in the military, just like his dad.

The golf training was uncanny.

Earl told stories about jingling change in his pocket to teach Tiger not to lose his focus, and how he identified in him at an early age the ability to produce shots under the most stifling pressure.