The best putt I ever saw Tiger make was at the Presidents Cup in South Africa, a playoff against Ernie Els when it was nearly dark. The 15-foot putt went over a ridge, then fed down to the hole with 10 inches of break.

I asked Earl about that putt, and he said Tiger learned to stick to his routine no matter the situation. You can put a clock on him when he’s in a zone, the proud father said. So I took him up on the offer at the Byron Nelson Championship. On three straight holes, Tiger had putts of about 10 feet.

His routine took 18.1 seconds on the first one, 18 seconds on the next one and 18.2 seconds on the third.

“What we’re doing is witnessing Rembrandt paint, and we’re all marveling at him mixing paint and brushing strokes,” Earl said after Tiger won the Canadian Open in 2000 with that 6-iron out of a bunker and over the water on the final hole. “The more you watch, the more you appreciate his talent. And every week, you see a move with the brush you had never seen before. And the painting starts to come to life, more and more and more. It’s still unfinished.”

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Earl said a lot of outrageous things about Tiger. Most times, he turned out to be right.

When Tiger signed endorsements with Nike and Titleist worth $60 million as a 20-year-old, Earl called it “chump change.” Four years later, the next Nike deal was worth more than $125 million.

He said his son would “do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity,” and referred to him as the “Chosen One” who would “have the power to impact nations.”

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Tiger’s influence on his sport is undeniable. He raised the profile of golf perhaps more than any other player, and he is the reason prize money on the PGA Tour has quadrupled in the 10 years he’s been around.

As for the power to impact nations, perhaps, as Dad said, the painting isn’t finished.