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Game of life all that matters

Tiger Woods can take as many indefinite leaves as he wants — and he can take them for however long he chooses. But until he comes out of hiding and looks us all in the eye, the maelstrom that has rocked his world the last two weeks will not subside.

The longer Woods hides behind the gates of his millionaire community, the further it deepens the cloak of mystery around him — and the further it feeds the curiosity beast that’s been eating him alive day after brutal day.

In a way, since his fateful fire-hydrant crash the night after Thanksgiving, Woods coming out yesterday and stating he was going to step away from the game while he attempts to repair his fractured family was the most clear-headed thing he’s done in the last two weeks.

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Credit him for that.

Woods, indeed, has to fix his family first, if that’s even possible. And if he thinks putting golf aside, delaying his pursuit of the history, will help repair his family, then it’s something he obviously needs to do.

But it’s not enough. Not nearly enough.

Woods — who’s either been getting the worst public-relations advice in the history of world-famous public implosions, or simply hasn’t listened to those closest to him — cannot fully heal his world and return to whatever semblance of normalcy he’ll ever find again until he stands before the public.

If he needs to do that by taking the clichéd route and sitting on Oprah’s couch clutching hands with his wife, Elin Nordegren, and tearfully professing how sorry he is and how he’s more determined to become a changed man than he is about breaking Jack Nicklaus’ record number of major championships, then fine.

The best way Woods can get on with his life is by playing golf, returning to that sanctity inside the ropes where he has always excelled at higher levels than anyone around him.

The next event he wins, particularly if it’s a major championship, the further Woods will push this mess into the rear-view mirror, because the public embraces a winner regardless of what dumb things he’s done. Just ask Alex Rodriguez.

Will that first event Woods plays be a painful circus to deal with? Of course, but it’s a part of the public healing process Woods has to go through — and probably the sooner the better.

The indefinite leave he’s taking from the game obviously means Woods will not surface at the San Diego Open in late January, which would have been the first event on his 2010 schedule.

The more pressing golf question is whether Woods plays the Masters, the season’s first major championship,

Woods, with his 14 major titles, is four behind Nicklaus’ all-time record and even without this explosion in his personal life, Woods breaking that record was not a given.

In a highly prophetic moment, a few years back, before Woods was married, Nicklaus was asked about Woods breaking his record and he warned that Woods didn’t even have a family yet and that there were many challenges still ahead for him.

Woods’ indiscretions and the subsequent wild fallout have shown just how fragile the pursuit of that Nicklaus record is and, just like Woods’ carefully crafted image of perfection was before this crash, it’s not a given at all.

Mark Cannizzaro covers the PGA Tour for The Post.