The Tiger Of January Is Back!
/Tiger Woods, who dominated the game in January but stunk it up in a February spent mostly lounging around at kids sporting events or playing country club rounds with Rory McIlroy, rediscovered the player who won at Torrey Pines almost six whole weeks ago.
His WGC Cadillac Championship win came in part thanks to help from Steve Stricker. 
From Doug Ferguson's AP game story:
"Thank you to Steve for the putting lesson," Woods said at the trophy presentation. "It was one of those weeks where I felt pretty good about how I was playing, made a few putts and got it rolling."
Stricker, playing a part-time schedule, picked up his second runner-up finish in just three starts. He closed with a 68, and had no regrets about offering Woods some help.
"At times you kick yourself," Stricker said with a laugh. "He's a good friend. We talk a lot about putting. It's good to see him playing well."
Asked if he would have won without that chance meeting with Stricker, Woods hedged a little.
"I would like to say I probably would have, but ..." he said with a smile.
Bob Harig felt it was the best performance of the Sean Foley era.
Woods is 37, and while he admirably talks about trying to be better than ever and is wired in a way that elite performers must be, those mortals among us must realistically acknowledge that such comparisons are unfair.
Who, in sports, is better at age 37 than 27? Do we really think he is going to duplicate the feats of 2000, when he won three majors (something accomplished only once prior in the game's modern history)? And are we going to call him a failure if he doesn't?
And yet, Woods might again be the best in the world.
Robert Lusetich noted this about the putting and ball striking performance at Doral:
Although his triumph at Doral — his first in a World Golf Championship event since before his 2009 scandal — was built on a career-low 100 putts, LaCava said “all facets of his game were on.”
He was more in control of his tee shots than he’s been in years, his iron play was not just sharp, but — as it was at his peak — creative, and he didn’t look like beating himself, as he’s been wont to do since ’09.
“He doesn’t have those kind of off-the-radar balls anymore,” said Graeme McDowell, who played alongside Woods in the final two rounds.
John Strege threw in a baseball metaphor and wrote:
Woods pitched a complete game at the Trump Doral Resort in Miami, leading the WGC-Cadillac Championship wire to wire and winning by two. And it was over before it began on Sunday, as it typically is when Woods opens a 54-hole lead. "Looks like Tiger has this week taken care of," Ian Poulter wrote on Twitter Saturday night, conceding the point.
Poulter later claimed sarcasm, but whatever his intent, truth won out. Woods has 50 victories in the 54 tournaments in which he has claimed a 54-hole lead. When his lead is greater than two (it was four at the start of play on Sunday) through 54 holes, he has never lost, running his record to 22-0.
Woods’s trap-cut off the tee is mostly working, and he has finally dialed in the distances he’s hitting his short irons, a weakness that was woefully apparent at last year’s majors. Asked after the third round if his game is as good as ever, he said, “I don’t want it to be good. That was never the intent. I want it to be better.”
Is Woods better than he was in 2000? No, but the idea of it suddenly seems far from ludicrous. The last three times he won at Torrey Pines and Doral to start the season, as he has this season, he went on to six- (’05), eight- (’06), and seven-win seasons (’07). He won nine times, including three majors, in 2000.
