TIGER'S LURKING AT QUCKEN LOANS NATIONAL: IS IT TOO EARLY TO SAY HE'S BACK?

As host of the Quicken Loans National, we would expect to see Tiger Woods show up ready to display his "A" game. Of course, if you watched any of his dismal play two weeks ago at The Open Championship, it would be difficult to think that was possible. But for the second day in a row, Tiger started out over par only to go six under the rest of the way and post 68 - 66 in the first two rounds. Today he hit 10 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens, sinking some lengthy putts along the way and looking, well, okay, I'll say it. He actually resembled the Tiger of old, especially from a confidence standpoint. There is still the afternoon wave of golfers to play, but at the completion of his round, Tiger was in a tie for second, an almost inconceivable position given his poor play this year. Can it be that he's been right in insisting that his game was closer to coming around than it looked? Well, after being three over par after four holes yesterday, it appeared he was headed for another missed cut having to wait another couple of weeks at the PGA to see if he could finally turn the corner. But as if a switch was turned on, he's birdied twelve of his last thirty-two holes against a lone bogey to vault up the leaderboard, putting him in position to contend on the weekend.

At the Greenbrier Classic, he was five under beginning play on Saturday, then shot a one over 71 that took him out of any chance for a title. It will be interesting to see, depending on how far back Tiger ends up after today's rounds are complete, how he handles being in the hunt in the third round. My hope is that he does well, because as I've written many times in this blog, there has never been a more dominant or exciting player in the game when he's on. And I'm not alone. It just takes a cursory look at the ratings for tournaments where he's a contender versus the one's where he's not to show how popular he is and how important, even today, his presence is to the game of golf. I know the naysayers who don't like Woods for a number of reasons, including his off the course indiscretions. But as a sports fan, I don't watch games because the athletes are great people. I watch to be entertained by great athletic skill and execution. There are a lot of great guys out there playing on tour, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy included, but there's still only one Tiger Woods. If he's able to jump start his career, as Jack Nicklaus did in 1980, and go on to win another major or two, the game of golf will be better for it.

Don't forget to check out my new book, "Roughing the Passer - A PK Frazier Novel" and my first, "Illegal Procedure - A PK Frazier Novel", available in print and e-formats at Amazon.com, iBooks and Smashwords. The third installment, "Offsetting Penalties" is due out in the fall.