SAN DIEGO --- Even by Tiger Woods' own brilliant standards, this win was epic.

The grimaces and grins. The fist pumps and roars. The curses and groans. The four doubles and three eagles. The backside 30 in prime time Friday. The eagle bombs and chip-in birdie in prime time Saturday. The earth-shaking, playoff-making 15-footer in prime time Sunday. The roller-coaster Monday match with Rocco Mediate. The bonus sudden-death overtime finish.

"Anything and everything happened this week," Woods said after eliminating Mediate on the first sudden-death playoff hole. "This is probably my best ever, all things considered. I don't know how I ended up in this position."

Woods limped one step closer to Jack Nicklaus' major championship record, but at what cost? It would be a golfing tragedy if Tiger's wounded knee was his undoing.

"He'll be fine," swing coach Hank Haney said.

But Woods admitted with the U.S. Open trophy sitting beside him that his doctors had advised him not to play golf yet and that he could do more damage to his already fragile knee by playing the tournament -- much less 91 holes.

"I'm not really good at listening to doctors," Woods said.

And does he think he might have done further damage to the knee?

"Mmmmmmmm," he thought. "Maybe."

Woods had planned on playing again at the Buick Open in two weeks and player-hosting his AT&T National the week after. On Monday he said he was going to "shut it down for a bit." He wouldn't even commit to playing in the British Open at Royal Birkdale in five weeks.

"I pushed it pretty hard this week," he said.

It was obvious we were watching something very special as Woods battled the course, the field and his own bum knee. The third surgery he had to repair his left knee two days after the Masters Tournament was far more significant than even Woods was previously willing to let on. It was no simple "procedure," as he likes to call it. People close to Woods admit that this is something that is going to be a recurring problem for his career, with more surgeries in the future and the real possibility of needing to have his knee replaced before he'd be ready to retire.

So is this what we can expect to see out of Woods for the rest of his career? Is this the handicap he's spotting the rest of the world? Will we see him nearly as often? Will the majors become his only point of focus at the exclusion of his regular PGA Tour credentials? Will he be willing to put that knee to work through 36-hole days at the Ryder Cup? These are legitimate questions that Woods -- for the moment -- is unwilling to answer.

"To be honest with you, I really don't know," he said.

When asked specifically whether knee pain will be a permanent part of his game, he shrugged.

Did he know the answer to that question?

"I know," he said, and left it at that.

Whether it was a good idea or not, Woods played this week and never had any intention of quitting. Despite shooting pains that forced him to limp, often doubled him over and led the notorious drug-o-phobe to take pain relievers, he pressed on. It wasn't always his prettiest or most precise golf, but he kept pulling off magic shots in the nick of time to keep pointing toward the prize.

"I wasn't going to bag it," he said of the notion of withdrawing. "Those of you who know me know that's not my nature. I don't know how to do that."

Playing with pain is simply becoming a reality for him. He was playing in pain when he won four times early this season and had people wondering if he'd ever lose again. He was hurting when he finished second at the Masters, though he did his best to hide it from everyone.

"Well, it is what it is," Woods said of his health. "If pain hits, pain hits. So be it. It's just pain."

What's really painful is thinking that we might not have Woods around much longer to watch.

We're already going to see some changes in the immediate future. The long term might be different as well. Woods doesn't need the PGA Tour as much as the PGA Tour needs him. He could start further limiting his already reduced schedule to 10 or even fewer events per year. It's the majors that matter to him, and Nicklaus' target is still the one that keeps him limping forward.

But we should savor these virtuoso performances of grit and skill and determination while we can. Already, perhaps the greatest women's golfer of all-time announced her retirement as of the end of this season. Annika Sorenstam, Tiger's friend, is only 37 years old and healthy.

Woods is 32. It would be nice to see him play more than five more years. By definition, the great epics are long and enduring.