I was get to go that point where I could start doing these things again

"Tiger Woods is always Tiger Woods. He can't be 100 percent every week, but I'm sure he answered a lot of questions today, I just wish you all would just quit (ticking) him off ... so he has to come back and keep proving stuff." Jim Furyk

What makes Woods extra special this week? No, it’s not about the same shirt he wore that Sunday in March when he won Arnold Palmer Invitational and this Sunday in June at the Memorial. But, yes, it is about hitting 49 out of 56 fairways and how he was able to “fix his swing”. Oh yes, it was also
about his sharp iron shots, that produced 59 out of 72 green in regulations. And yes, it was about controlling putts on the greens with 15 on the stimpmeter, giving him putting average of 1.698. And another yes, it was about making eagles on the 11th two days in a row.

Fluke, you might say? Not with this current world number one. The record shows, that even if he had not won every tournament he entered, he had been able to stay within the top-10 in all the 6 stroke play starts. Yet, some people say he’s in a slump, particularly after the long extended break since he had the knee surgery last July. But all the naysayers are definitely silenced now.

And the legend who Tiger is chasing to tie or break his records, the Golden Bear knows precisely how it feels when he recalled, “"One year I went eight or nine tournaments, and they said, what's wrong with Nicklaus? He didn't win a major, I finished second in three of them, but I didn't win. So I'm in a slump.”

And with that he said about Tiger’s doing, "He goes through the same thing. It's the same thing every time. You just really can't pay much attention to it. You've just got to go about and do what you do. That's what he's been doing, going about and doing what he does." Or when Jim Furyk said in an interview, "Tiger Woods is always Tiger Woods. He can't be 100 percent every week, but I'm sure he answered a lot of questions today," and further blurted, "I just wish you all would just quit (ticking) him off ... so he has to come back and keep proving stuff."

Or what Michael Letzig, who got the up-closeand- personal view while paired with Woods on Sunday, could only say, "The conversation went good shot, good shot, good shot." And good shots did not come by just like that; for Tiger it was just a matter of time. He was just starting to go practice after his rounds.

At Quail Hollow, he hit a few balls only two of the days. Next at the Players he was able to hit more consistently. And he was starting to get physically good enough. As Tiger said, “If I had a problem, I could go on the range and fix it. I was get to go that point where I could start doing these things again.”

His practice sessions started getting longer at home. Hitting more balls, playing more golf. And added, “People don't realize you need to do that. You need to have that ability. You can't just think about your swing and how to be great the next day.” And indeed he revealed, “I needed to do the reps and do some good practice sessions this past couple of weeks. It came together this week.”

The Sunday Story
Starting the final round with 5-under and 4 strokes behind the co-leaders Matt Bettencourt and Mark Wilson, Tiger made an early charge when he birdied holes 2, 4, 5 and 7, but bogeyed the 8th to put him back to 8-under at the turn.

Then came the bomb on the par-5 11th. He had a perfect drive just over the creek, then decided to hit his second shot with his 5 wood hoping to land it in the middle of the green, but he flushed it to the right rough. When he got up there, it was a nasty little lie. It was sitting near the green and down. Then tried to make sure he took a big enough swing that if he missed it, he was going to carry it on the green, have it roll over the green, and have an easy chip back up the hill.

He said, “So that's one of the reasons why I made that big of a swing is to make sure I carried on the green and make the swing long, give myself a chance and stay on the green and make a putt.” Apparently he did not have to make that putt, the ball just found the bottom of the cup for an eagle, unquestionably a huge bonus. This time he was within one stroke behind Jonathan Byrd who eagled the 7th and got to 11-under at the turn.

In the meantime, Matt Bettencourt had a double bogey on the 9th sitting at 7-under and Mark Wilson’s 9-under were just out of the radar. While at that very point, Woods and Furyk tied for second place on the leader board with 10- under each.

Byrd who played along side Furyk had briefly managed to surge ahead when he birdied the par-3 twelfth hole and went to 12-under but quickly diminished when he bogeyed the 13th then made a double-bogey on the next hole and returned the favor on the 15th with a birdie for a total of 10-under. The Scoreboard now has four co-leaders on top, Davis Love III, Byrd, Furyk and Woods. Tiger had birdie-bogey on holes 15 & 16, and getting ready for the last two most difficult holes.

On the 17th, Tiger hit a 5-wood off the tee, and got a little surprise as to how far it went. After that 290 yards, he hit a high 9-iron to get his second shot to just 9 feet to the he hole that he finished it gracefully with a birdie and moved up on the leaderboard as the outright leader, leaving Furyk and Byrd at second.

Then on the 18th, Woods sensibility took over. Had he overclubbed it, he just might find his ball in the hazard, so he took out his 3 iron for a lay up. Not really, he hit it more than 260 yards and just 183 yards to the pin. Studying the situation, he finally decided to grab iron 7 to try to line it up anywhere to the right of the flag, thinking that if he missed it, he would have a 15-20 footer. But with his 1-stroke advantage, he thought of nothing but committing to the shot.