Pundits tipping Woods to start winning again

FLORIDA: Tiger Woods may only be three starts into his PGA Tour return but some experts feel the former world No 1 has shown he still has what it takes to make a meteoric rise up the rankings.

Woods, who had spinalfusion surgery 10 months ago, has been erratic off the tee but has displayed solid scrambling skills to record two top25 finishes and reach 389th in the world.

‘‘I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see Tiger make a run into the top 10 (in the world),’’ Golf Channel analyst and former world No 1 David Duval said yesterday.

‘‘How high he can get, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be shocked at all if he made a run.’’

Woods (42) showed more than a few glimpses of his vintage best at last week’s Honda Classic where, despite playing on one of the most difficult courses on the PGA Tour, he entered the weekend only four shots off the lead.

The 14times major champion, whose thirdround 69 was his lowest on the PGA Tour since 2015, finished eight shots off the pace in 12th for perhaps his boldest statement yet of the year.

‘‘He’s close to winning a golf tournament,’’ former PGA Tour winner and Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said.

‘‘It’s probably a tie between his club head speed and his ability to get the ball up and down again that surprised me the most. I’m not sure which one surprised me the most, but he’s a threat again. And it’s great to have him back.’’

Last week’s performance by Woods was so encouraging that his odds to win the April 58 Masters dropped to 161, according to Westgate Las Vegas Superbook.

Woods is a fourtimes Masters champion but has not competed in the first major of the year since 2015 due to a back injury that some felt would spell the end of his illustrious career.

But those predictions may have been premature as Woods has shown no ill effects in his latest comeback from the back problems that plagued him for years.

‘‘Certainly there’s hurdles to overcome, but the sharpness of his golf swing and his game look very, very good,’’ Duval said.

competitive rust he was fighting.

‘‘I don’t think he’s all the way there and all the way back. He’s certainly getting awful close awful quickly.’’ — Reuters