Tiger Is Back For At Least The Fourth Time

And maybe the most impressive, as he faced withering heat, a stubborn Bo Van Pelt and a difficult test,  pulling off only-Tiger-can-hit-that-shots at 12 and 18 to win the AT&T National.

Brian Wacker on Tiger's third win of the year, and number 74 to put him second on the all time list, with this from Bo Van Pelt:

That's what Woods is in the eyes of Van Pelt.

 
"No offense to any of those other guys, but he's the only guy to win three tournaments on TOUR this year;" said Van Pelt, who assisted Woods by bogeying his final three holes. "On three different golf courses, and he was leading the U.S. Open after two days. So I'd say that he's playing the best golf in the world right now."

Can anyone really argue otherwise?

Doug Ferguson on what a worthy adversary Van Pelt turned out to be as the rest of the field wilted.

Three times, Woods took the outright lead in the final round. Each time, Van Pelt made a birdie of his own to catch him. The tournament was decided on the last three holes, and it featured a surprising turn of events.

Van Pelt had Woods on the ropes on the par-5 16th by ripping a 345-yard tee shot and having only a 6-iron into the green. Woods hit a spectator in the left rough with his tee shot, laid up, and then attacked a back flag only to see the ball tumble over the green and down an 8-foot slope. It looked as if it might be a two-shot swing for Van Pelt, or at least the lead going to the 17th.

That's when Van Pelt answered with unforced errors of his own. His 6-iron was slightly heavy and didn't quite reach the bunker, meaning he had to plant his feet in the sand and grip the wedge on the shaft for his third shot. He moved it only a few yards, still in the collar of the rough, and chipped about 12 feet by the hole. Woods' chip up the slope rolled 15 feet by, and he missed the par putt.

From the SI/golf.com crowd on where this puts Woods heading into the final two majors:

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: What meant the most to Tiger, I'd guess, is that he won at a Congo that played more like a major course than the Congo of June 2011, when that other "next Tiger" won. (What was his name again?) Maybe the next Tiger is ... Tiger.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: He's certainly POY so far, but even for Tiger 3.0, a year without a major is not a success. The British and PGA will determine how we (and he) view this season.

John Garrity, contributing writer, Sports Illustrated: Declaring Tiger "back" or "not back" may be a pointless exercise, but it's been a full-time job for most of us. My Tour Tempo co-author, John Novosel, declared Tiger "back" at the U.S. Open because Tiger was swinging with consistent tempo again. Same thing this week. So I say the Cat is Back and yeah, he's POY.

Farrell Evans with Tiger's post-round comments:

"I remember there was a time when people were saying I could never win again," Woods said. "Here we are.

"A lot of media people didn't think I could win again, and I had to deal with those questions for a quite a bit. It was just a matter of time."

Yet many of his doubters were also average golf fans. Since I joined ESPN.com in August, I have received an avalanche of mail from readers who have grown impatient with Tiger. Nearly every day for the past three years, people from all walks of life have drilled me with questions about Tiger's future.

Many of the fans or commenters generally fall into three camps. The first group abhors any mention of Tiger unless he's winning the tournament. On Saturday night, when Brendon De Jonge held a 1-shot lead over Tiger and Van Pelt, a reader pelted me for barely mentioning the 31-year-old Zimbabwe native in my column.

CBSSports.com includes this Feherty post-round interview with the usual sucking up from one EA Sports colleague to another, and also has Tiger talking about that incredible approach to 18.

The PGA Tour highlight package includes that 9-iron from 190 on 18 that, while not flashy, will go down with serious golf fans as an epic clincher.