TIGER WOODS RETURNS TO FORM

Behind and somewhat beneath a tree in the 18th fairway, 264 yards from a green protected by two bunkers and the Pacific Ocean, Tiger Woods stood over his ball with a 3-wood in hand. Suddenly, he backed away. Was he considering the more prudent lay-up shot? “No, just gathering myself,” Woods said later. Woods took his stance again, then laced the 3-wood with a stirring left-to-right arc that avoided the tree. He watched as the ball climbed in the sky, then split the bunkers to land on the front of the green. This was no ordinary shot. Even though the par-5 18th green slopes toward the fairway, Woods’s shot bounced forward and began to curve on a different path — right to left and uphill. It was a little white orb tracking in the direction of the hole, but it arrived more like a signal from somewhere far away. Tiger Woods, standing hundreds of yards away and improbably behind and beneath a tree, had made his return to major championship golf. The gallery beside the 18th green understood, wildly cheering a shot few would even attempt. Woods was left with an eagle putt that he missed, instead converting his fifth birdie on the back nine to finish with a 66 and a score of one under par after three rounds. There was an unmistakable symbolism in his charging finish. A day after he had looked confused and conquered, Woods was, in his words, “back in the ball game.” He was in third place, five strokes behind the leader, Dustin Johnson. A round of five under par did not seem very likely after three holes Saturday. Woods had bogeyed the second and third holes. “I was pretty unhappy,” he said about his start. “But I didn’t lose all concentration. I just kept telling myself that my goal was to get back to even par for the tournament.” It was a fair goal, except at that moment Woods was six over. But Woods’s tee shots were accurate, as were his approach shots. For a change, he sank medium-range putts. In a flash, with most of the attention at Pebble Beach on any one of 25 other contending golfers, Woods made three successive birdies. A bogey at the eighth left him where he started the day, four over par, but Woods was encouraged. “I still saw good things happening,” he said. “The wind had not whipped up. I thought I could make birdies.” The first birdie in the run came at the 11th. He made another at the 13th after a brilliant second shot that stopped 10 feet from the hole. Dressed in a cream-colored sweater and matching pants, Woods seemed in control, his emotions as muted as his wardrobe. Friday, he had dressed in black and it suited his mood and his game. Saturday, he looked like a man dressed for a walk in the park, and at times for Woods it appeared as easy as that. He birdied the 16th with another curling, testy putt and then hit his tee shot at the daunting 17th hole just over the green onto the fringe. He made that putt, too. “That putt was a joke,” Woods said later, laughing. “I was just trying to get it close.” The 18th hole was like something from a vintage Woods performance, something from another Woods era — before the November auto accident. Woods had a different analysis. “I’ve been saying that this is a process and that I would slowly get better,” he said, standing behind the 18th grandstand. “So, yes, it’s been a while, but I felt the chance to have a round like this was coming. “I put it all together and I fed on the surge. I turned it around.” Woods was asked to look ahead to Sunday’s final round and to assess his chances. “We’ll know after the next 18 holes,” he said with a wide smile. “But I am right there. I am in contention and that was my intent.” Woods then began talking about the second shot at the 18th hole again, how at first he didn’t think he could go for the green because the tree was in the way and there wasn’t much of a gap with trouble all around. And then, in a scene from another time, Woods said he caught himself. “I thought that maybe I can,” he said. “I thought: Why not?” (NY Times)