Once upon a time, the best golfer in the world hit a rough skid, overshadowed by personal debauchery, detrimental injuries and on-course woes.
He dropped out of the No.1 ranking and fell out of the top 50 golfers in the world for the first time in 15 years.
Many doubted whether golf, and its best player, would ever be the same.
But make no mistake: Tiger Woods is back. Arguably the best golfer in the history of the game has risen to the top of the World Golf Rankings again, claiming the No. 1 spot that has played host to a merry-go-round of golfers for the past few years.
In 2013 alone, he has played only five official events and has taken home first-place hardware in three of them.
With the lowest stroke average on tour (68.33), Woods has resurged as the golfing czar he once was, extinguishing attempts of other top-notch golfers simply by having his name perched high on the leaderboard.
Somewhere along the way, Woods found his putting stroke, and perhaps more noticeably, his mental game.
He held the lead through 36 holes in each of his first two wins and came back from four strokes down after two rounds to claim his eighth career victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
As the co-favorite to bring home his fifth Masters’ Green Jacket this week, as well as his 15th major, Woods could not have asked for a better time for the gargantuan momentum that is behind him.
That is not the only thing that seems to be behind him either. An unstable personal life, which was fueled by family hardships that were spawned by an uncontrolled sex addiction, all seem to be in the rearview mirror, at least for the time being.
Woods is making fewer and fewer appearances in tabloids, besides recent news of his relationship with skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn.
In a new Nike advertisement featuring Woods, he is crouched over a putt in his traditional Sunday red shirt, with the quote, “Winning takes care of everything,” stretching the frame.
The controversial quote stirred negative reaction for its bluntness. The concept of winning eclipsing his personal blunders has caused many to disapprove of the advertisement, expressing the commonly said quote made by Woods to be bluntly callous and cold.
But the statement is not far from the truth as professional golf seems to be more than happy to anoint Tiger back to legendary status once more.
For now, he looks as poised as ever to do so.
