Rory McIlroy on Tuesday at the Players Championship.

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We all hang it up, though when can be a complicated question.

Can be.

When Rory McIlroy heard it asked Wednesday morning, it wasn't completely out of the reporter's mouth when he had his reply.

You've been relatively injury-free minus a few soccer games and what have you. How do you see your career winding down? You've got time. And you hit a certain age where you're not quite as good anymore. How do you come to grips when you get to an age ...

"I'll be OK with that," McIlroy said.

We'll check back in a few years, of course, as plans and egos change. For now, McIlroy is playing golf at its best level and, as the world's second-ranked player, he's playing among the best at that level. This week, at the Players Championship, he's among the favorites. But there's also the saying about Father Time and his undefeated streak, and McIlroy is just under two months shy of turning 36. For the working folks among us, those are prime 9-to-5 years. But for athletes? Well, you begin getting asked questions.

Not coincidentally, they were brought to McIlroy in light of the unfortunate circumstances around a friend, a 15-time major winner -- and a 49-year-old trying to work his way back from back surgery last September, the umpteenth procedure performed on his body. On Monday afternoon, though, we learned there'd be another for Tiger Woods; his social media accounts announced that he had torn his left Achilles tendon as he started to "ramp up" training and practice.

Understandably, McIlroy was blunt in assessment of the news.

"Yeah. It sucks," he said. "Yeah, he doesn't have much luck when it comes to injuries and his body. Obviously he was trying to ramp up to get ready for Augusta, and Achilles surgeries obviously aren't fun. Hoping he's in good spirits and hoping he's doing OK.

"We obviously won't see him play golf this year, and hopefully we see him maybe play in 2026."

Could McIlroy see Woods be competitive in a return?

"He'll try. I know he'll try," he said. "But that's a question for him, not for me. I obviously don't know what's in his head. But judging by prior behavior, he'll definitely try."

As for McIlroy, he's been relatively injury-free since turning pro in 2007, minus an ankle injury suffered while playing soccer in 2015, as the reporter at the start of this article, the Associated Press' Doug Ferguson, pointed out. But McIlroy said he'd be good with moving on, whenever that time might be.

"I look at other sports," he said, "and I've had an unbelievable -- I turned pro in 2007. I'm 18 years into a career. Not a lot of athletes can say they've had an 18-year career, and I'm only 35.