66: Tiger's Back! He Wasn't "Far Away" After All (Or So He Says)

His feels did not feel far off, or so Tiger claimed after a shocking 66 in the Greenbrier Classic opener that had the former World No. 1 sounding pretty confident in the state of his game.

Karen Crouse in the New York Times reports.

Woods returned this week with a head of steam too weak to move a ball off the tee, and opened with a 66 on Thursday. Go figure. It was his best first-round score in 22 months, and, at four-under, it equaled his lowest score relative to par this year.

“I know people think I’m crazy for saying that, but I just felt like I wasn’t that far away,” said Woods, who dismissed the notion that he had proved anything to anybody with the good start.

All that mattered to him was that he was four strokes behind the pacesetter, Scott Langley.

“Forget you guys and everybody else out there,” Woods said, laughing. “It’s about winning golf tournaments and putting myself up there consistently.”

He's back! Until he's not.

Steve DiMeglio's report implies that Tiger actually cleared his head instead of trying to get more technical.

“ … I didn’t touch a club for a while (after the U.S. Open). Took my kids down to Albany, and we were down diving in the water every day all day pretty much. It was nice to have a summer break with them like that, especially after the way I played.”