Monday night saw the latest development in Tiger Woods’s extraordinary career: the 14-time major winner played caddie to Jimmy Fallon in a chipping contest with Rory McIlroy.
The sight of Woods laughing and joking with Fallon and McIlroy on The Tonight Show will stun those used to seeing the steely-eyed, sometimes surly and often foul-mouthed Woods who prowls golf courses.
After McIlroy’s recent wins at The Open and the US PGA Championship, the Northern Irishman and world No 1 is becoming a true rival to Woods as the biggest name in golf, and the two superstars joined funnyman Fallon to promote Nike’s new Vapor irons.
All smiles: Rory McIlroy (left) and Tiger Woods (right) on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon 
Game for a laugh: Woods sat out the competition but joined in the fun and cracked a few jokesFallon managed to convince the pair to engage in a game of ‘facebreakers’, in which the aim was to chip golf balls in order to smash glass windows stained with images of Fallon and McIlroy’s faces. The first to smash all the faces of their rival was the winner.
Woods, who has suffered a miserable year through injury, culminating in a miserable performance in missing the cut two weeks ago at Valhalla, sat out the competition. All of which was probably wise – who knows what US captain Tom Watson would have made of Woods chipping the ball after the 38-year-old pulled out of the Ryder Cup last week.
Instead, a beaming Woods played caddie for Fallon, setting up balls for the TV host to chip. He even cracked a few good jokes: ‘Just getting the balls lined up for you, sir,’ he obsequiously told Fallon, drawing a laugh from the audience.
Fallon couldn’t hide his delight at having arguably the greatest golfer in history as his caddie. But, as McIlroy took charge of the contest, Fallon screamed: ‘Tiger, help me!’ But the four-time major winner took the trophy.
Meanwhile, Woods revealed he pulled out of the Ryder Cup because he did not feel he could have won a point for the United States.
Woods withdrew himself from contention for the competition, which gets under way at Gleneagles in Scotland on September 23, and has ruled himself out of any further action until December as he attempts to get to the root cause of persistent back problems.
‘Physically, I couldn’t do it,’ Woods told Sky Sports News of his decision to inform United States captain Tom Watson he was unavailable.
‘I wouldn’t be ready, and not being able to be there for my team-mates, the captain, assistant captain and everyone that’s involved in the event, I just wouldn’t be ready and I just couldn’t help the team.
‘When your name is called you have to be able to go out there and get a point and I just didn’t feel like I could be ready enough to get a point.
Year to remember: McIlroy won The Open in July (left) and the US PGA Championship in August (right)
Back problems: Woods has endured a miserable year as he battles to overcome serious injury
‘With that being said it was time to shut it down, get stronger, get more explosive again and get back for next year.’
The former world No 1 said he is working in the gym and does not plan to pick up a golf club for a month with nothing on his agenda until his own tournament, the World Challenge tournament at Isleworth in Orlando, Florida, in the first week of December.
‘I’ve got to be physically fit when I come back so I’ll be explosive again and stable,’ he said.
‘Obviously this year was frustrating in that I didn’t really feel that I gave myself much of a chance.
‘I first had that pain in my back and it would go away, and then it would come back, go away, come back, until eventually it never went away… It got fixed, but I took that fall on No 2 at the (WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and I hadn’t done any agility training yet so my hip got misaligned and everything went into spasm again.
‘We got that all calmed down again but then I had to play. Now I need to keep it calm, then strengthen it and then I’ll be back. That’s one of the reasons I’ve shut it down. I’ll come back in December and be ready for next year.’
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