At the 2013 Masters, Tiger Woods is a solid bet against the field. There is no greater testament than this to show that the new No. 1 golfer is back to his nearly mythical best.
If this notion wasn't clear before the PGA Tour rolled into Bay Hill for the 2013 Arnold Palmer Invitational, it is now.
Woods took the top spot by finishing 13-under par to give him a two-stroke win over Justin Rose. Take a look at a recap of the final round:
This was Woods' 77th win on Tour, and his eighth in this event—which tied him with Sam Snead for the most wins in any single event. Also, for the first time in nearly three years, it returned Woods to the No. 1 ranking he has previously held for 623 weeks.
It's not just the fact that Woods has regained the No. 1 ranking that led me to saying he is all the way back; it is the way he is playing.
Ultimately, Tiger is going to be judged on major wins, and if he doesn't win at least one this year, I'm sure he'd be the first to say the year was a disappointment.
However, that doesn't mean we all have to hold off on saying he has regained his dominant form until he wins one. His game allows us to say it now.
This win came like so many of his previous ones. Tiger stalked up the leaderboard to enter the final round with the lead and then slammed the door.
Woods, who began the final round with a two-stroke lead, never let any of his competitors get closer than that during the rain interrupted final round.
He is now 52-4 when he begins the final round with at least a share of the lead, and 41-2 when he has the lead outright.
This gives Woods three wins in his four stroke-play events of the year, and it is just the fourth time Woods has won three times prior to the Masters.
The last time he got off to this hot of a start was in 2008 when he won his first three events of the season. That year, he wound up finishing second at the Masters and then won the U.S. Open on one leg.
Woods driving distance is checking in at 300.3 yards, which is fairly consistent with his career numbers and is slightly better than any number he's had for a season since 2007.
For all his greatness, Woods has never been the most accurate driver. Tiger is below his standards with accuracy off the tee. He is carrying a 56.5 percentage in driving accuracy.
However, despite his woes off the tee, he is still hitting 68.1 percent of his greens in regulation. This is his best mark since his scandal/injury-driven hiatus, and it is consistent with his numbers previous to that.
Tiger is excelling with his flat blade. Woods has a strokes gained putting mark of .995. This is dramatically better than anything Tiger has turned in since returning from his hiatus.
Take a look at this 26-foot birdie putt on the par-five 12th hole in the final round to get a feel for Tiger's putting stroke:
Tiger is not playing at the level he played at while completing the Tiger Slam in 2000 and 2001. This will always be remembered as Tiger's peak, and for my money, the most dominant stretch of golf any golfer has ever turned in.
Now, this certainly doesn't mean Woods is guaranteed to win the Masters. After all, he has not won at Augusta since 2005.
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