MOJO RISING
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Before this week’s Honda Classic, with the attention of the golf world keenly dialed into Tiger Woods’ comeback, Padraig Harrington, one of the old war horses on the PGA Tour who’s had his will crushed by Woods a time or three, was asked what “fascinates’’ him about Woods. “Everything,’’ Harrington said. Asked what fascinates him “most,’’ Harrington said, “We’d be here all day if we started talking.’’
Then Harrington waxed on about how much Woods “has changed as a person.’’
“I’ll give you a quick example,’’ Harrington said. “Tiger would have come to any range in his heyday and he’d nod respectfully at whoever and he would go and do his work. He’d have his manager standing right behind him deflecting everybody away from getting near him. At Torrey Pines [last month], he came on the range and he high-fived a few people, had a few chats, stopped and had a couple of chats with me.
“No sign of his manager or anything like that. It was just him. He was relaxed and enjoying himself.’’
Woods has reason to enjoy himself now. He’s playing pain-free golf again, seemingly on the other side of the back problems that kept him off the course for the better part of the past few years. And now, Woods is contending again.
He didn’t win the Honda Classic on Sunday. Justin Thomas did. But Woods was a factor on the leaderboard all week, including Sunday’s final round when he inched himself to within four shots of the lead a few times.
His 12th-place finish at even-par was an improvement from the missed cut last week at the Genesis Open and from his tie for 23rd at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
As he prepares for his next tournament, which presumably will be the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, Woods will have played 10 PGA Tour full-field tournament rounds in his comeback and gotten better each day along the way.
“I made a big leap this week,’’ Woods said. “The last couple days it felt easy to play tournament golf. The warm-up felt good, I could find the rhythm of the round faster. The more golf I’m playing, tournament-wise, the faster I’m able to click into the feel of the round.’’
Woods, perhaps trying to resurrect the mojo from his 2012 final round at the Honda Classic when he shot 62 and put a scare into winner Rory McIlroy, birdied three of his first eight holes to get to 3-under and pique the interest of those ahead of him on the leaderboard.
The 3-under start got him to within four shots of the lead. But a bogey on No. 9 after a drive into the left rough dropped him to 2-under.
When Woods birdied No. 14 to get back to 3-under, he was tied for sixth and again four shots out of the lead. And then the “Bear Trap’’ happened. Again. Woods hit his 6-iron tee shot into the water on the par-3 15th, leading to his second double bogey on that hole in the past three days.
Woods then bogeyed No. 16 with a sloppy three-putt to fall to even-par. That made him a cumulative 8over par for the week on the treacherous stretch of holes No. 15 through 17 called the “Bear Trap’’ for course designer Jack Nicklaus.
Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, called the shot into the water on 15 Woods’ “only mediocre shot of the day,’’ adding that 8-over on the “Bear Trap’’ was “a tough number to swallow.’’
“I had a shot at it,’’ Woods said. “I was right there. Unfortunately, I didn’t play the last few holes well the last couple days. Might have been a different outcome.’’
Still, Woods walked away upbeat from the week. Each round, he hit more fairways and greens. He also finished first in the field in proximity to the hole on his approach shots at 29 feet, 3 inches, which was more than 2 feet better than his nearest competitor.
“I’m amazed at how well Tiger’s playing; I think he had a great week,’’ Nicklaus said on the CBS telecast.
“My expectations have gone up,’’ Woods said. “I’m hitting the ball better. I knew I could putt it, I knew I could chip it, but I didn’t know how well I was going to hit it. I know it’s been a long time, but I remember how to do this. I gave myself a chance to win this thing.’’
You can feel it in the air. Woods is poised to win again.
“He will definitely get another major,’’ Harrington said.
The Masters is just six weeks away. A fifth green jacket and a 15th major championship? Don’t rule it out. It might come sooner than anyone could have expected.