Tiger Woods is definitely back and now your Valspar Championship leader

Let it be known: Tiger Woods is back. He is back-back. Officially back. Could be a favorite to win the Masters back.

Tiger is the leader of a real, competitive PGA Tour event back. Woods’ latest comeback has remarkably flown a bit under the radar, relatively speaking in Tiger terms. There have been too many depressing, short-lived prior comebacks for the mania to really whip up the way we know it can.

The Tigermania is now here and the Masters is less than a month away. Tiger, playing with a fused back, the result of his fourth back surgery, is hitting the ball as far as he ever has and the rest of his game has returned over the last month in Florida. Tiger’s top 15 finish and the corresponding stats he put on the board at the Honda Classic probably didn’t get the attention it deserved. Now we’re seeing more of that same form, sharpened a bit , and Tiger is in the damn lead of the Valspar Championship.

Woods started Friday’s second round at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course tied for 8th at 1-under. This course has beat up its strongest field ever, but Woods, the one who should be rusty and struggle in tougher conditions, has looked better than everyone in the field. Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson, two of the top players in the game while Tiger sat on the shelf the past few years, had to make desperate late pushes to try and make the cut. They both missed the cut and finished 9 and 10 shots back of the 42-year-old with the fused back.

Tiger made the move to the top of the leaderboard with a round of 68. The full game was on display again, even if he’s still a little wild and could improve off the tee. The swing speeds should just not be possible given his age and the condition of his back. But he’s demolishing the ball well over 300 yards and clocking some of the fastest clubhead speeds of anyone on Tour.

Woods said after his missed cut at Riviera that he was struggling to find distance control with his irons, adding that a “hallmark of his career had been hitting it pin-high.” That precision has returned in Florida, first at the Honda Classic and now in Tampa.

And when he’s missed the green, his wedges have been perfect, a statement that’s mind-boggling to type given the yippy state of his short game in recent years. His flop shots and chips have repeatedly saved him from bogey. The putter has come through too, converting birdie chances and saving pars when he had to have it. The biggest save came late in the day on Friday, with this lengthy putt on the 7th hole (his 16th of the round).

It’s not completely shocking -- I swear! — to see him in a share of the lead if you’d watched his last five rounds in Florida. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t exciting and completely enthralling to watch. It’s just that he’s looked close in these past two starts, which is an absurd statement to make given how early in the year it is and where he’s been the last few seasons. You’ll hear Tiger say he’s “progressing” and analysts have said he’s “slowly” getting it back with more reps.

That’s bullshit — there is nothing slow or gradual about this comeback. It’s been a startling reentry. He’s been on the first page of the leaderboard, and now in the lead, throughout his last two events. Expect more of the same over the weekend and a real contention for his first win since 2013.

A player in the Friday afternoon wave may pass him for the 36-hole lead, but those are just semantics right now. Tiger is back and being ready for the Masters, which is now just a 28 days away, is what matters. He is ready.

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