Not that anyone has forgotten.
"I don't condone any of that stuff," said Jeremy Thomas, 33, of Shippensburg, Pa., "but what we've always admired about him was his pursuit of excellence on the golf course."
Thomas and his son Jeremy 2d, 6, wore matching red shirts and black shorts to trail Woods around Aronimink Golf Course on Thursday. They previously traveled to Florida and Washington, D.C., to watch Woods, and said the Aronimink crowds, though packed, were not yet of the same size.
Woods, the elder Thomas said, is a favorite of both - especially the son, who has been golfing since age 3, nearly as early as Woods' start.
"I wish I started when I was that young," the father said.
Before Woods' tee time, the crowds were bustling, but navigable, leaving it relatively easy to find space on the rope at the edge of the fairways to watch most players.
Toby Postalwaite, 52, and his son Josh, 16, of Millville, N.J., made it easily to front-row spots to watch Jim Furyk, the West Chester native, play the 18th hole.
The Postalwaites, devoted golf fans, had gone to the ShopRite LPGA Classic in June in Galloway Township, N.J., but said the AT&T National tournament's crowd - and the Aronimink course - already seemed superior to that.
"We don't have any courses like this where we live," Toby Postalwaite said, casting his eyes toward the bentgrass of Aronimink's ninth fairway, "so just to come down and see what a place like this is like is something."
Even old Aronimink hands said the course is the best they have seen it. In a shady spot along the 10th fairway Wednesday, Bob Dunn, 72, of Dover, Del., took in the last practice rounds and pronounced the course "in mint condition." He would know: Dunn caddied at Aronimink for most of the 1950s. This week, he watched practice rounds to size up the changes and gauge how fast the greens appeared.
"I'm trying to predict in my mind what it's going to take to win," said Dunn, his straw hat and stout walking stick a few feet away.
His best guess as of Wednesday: perhaps 15 under par.
Early play Thursday suggested he might be on track. Joe Ogilvie and Arjun Atwal led the first finishers at 4 under, with much golf left on the day.
Through 15 holes, even Woods' lackluster play (he's at par) hasn't cooled the enthusiasm of the cheering hundreds trekking alongside him from tee to green.
"You wouldn't even know there were other threesomes on the course," said Jeremy Butt, 33, a high school teacher and Chestnut Hill resident.
The crowds have chattered incessantly about Woods' inability to follow up frequent big drives with a consistent ground game.
"If he could hit his putts today, he'd be at minus-6 by now," said Jack Flickinger, 58, who drove up with son Jackson, 17, from Dumfries, Va., expressly to watch Woods - as did other fans from as far away as Asia.
"His swing is very dynamic, especially from close," said Masa Kikuchi, 36, of Yokohama, Japan, who flew in with wife Miho Kikuchi, 32, just for the tournament.
Like most others here, they've shelved their dismay over Woods' infidelities to cheer on his golfing.
"It was not good, especially for lady fans," Miho Kikuchi said.
Contact staff writer Derrick Nunnally at 610-313-8212 or dnunnally@phillynews.com.
