Can Tiger Woods Win this week's U.S. Open at Olympic Club? Tiger Woods comes to the Olympic Club this week having recaptured much of the long-misplaced skill, swagger and intimidating aura that some thought was lost forever.
His reconstructed swing is starting to look sweet. His once legendary putter, while still betraying him at times, is beginning to revert to divining-rod form.
After 3½ years of wandering in a competitive desert, Woods has won two tournaments in 2012, including Jack Nicklaus' Memorial event last weekend. He nearly won a third by shooting a final-round 62 that left him a stroke short of his anointed heir apparent, Rory McIlroy. He was in contention at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am until Phil Mickelson decided to shoot one of the best rounds of his life.
In the World Golf Rankings, Tiger has soared from a career low of No. 58 in November to his current position of No. 4 on the strength of a victory that tied him with Nicklaus for second on the all-time PGA Tour victory list with 73.
All this evidence points to one last question in the completion of his comeback -- can he still win a major? More to the point, have the stars properly aligned for Tiger to win this week's U.S. Open at Olympic?
After his win at Memorial, Woods was predictably evasive when asked if he thought was all the way back.
"I won," he said with a wide smile. "I'm sure by Tuesday I'll be retired and done, and then by the time I tee it up at the U.S. Open, it might be something different. But I'll let you guys figure that out."
The gentle sarcasm suggested Woods knows the world is watching and isn't yet convinced, with varying numbers of supporters and detractors dissecting his every success or failure and trying to formulate a long-term prognosis.
To be sure, most educated observers are still just a bit wary, based on the fact that Woods looked ready to take the Masters by storm after winning Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill event two weeks prior to Augusta. He didn't. He shot 5-over, didn't break par in any of his four rounds and finished tied for 40th.
NBC analyst Johnny Miller saw something disturbing at the Masters that had nothing to do with Woods' mechanics or mind-set.
"It was a shock to me because it was obviously nerves at Augusta," Miller said. "In his whole career, nerves never had anything to do with how he performed. So I don't know what to think of Tiger Woods at the Open. I don't know if he learned something from Augusta or it's something he can't control."
In fairness, Miller made that statement before Tiger won the Memorial, but it's clear former players still want to see Woods overcome the final hurdle of winning a major before pronouncing him fully indomitable once again.
"I think deep down inside me to say he's back, yeah, I think he would have to win a major first," said ESPN commentator Curtis Strange, a two-time Open winner.
Paul Azinger believes it's still difficult for people to comprehend the magnitude of Woods' comeback considering all that's happened to him since Torrey Pines in 2008 -- his injuries, his public sex scandal, his divorce, his swing changes and the replacement of both his swing coach and caddie.
"Just from firsthand experience, coming back from cancer when I was 33 years old, I played for six years before I won a tournament," Azinger said. "It wasn't until I finally won a tournament that people stopped asking what percent back am I. And Tiger plays at a whole other level."
Indeed, it's still not enough that Woods has finally won again. It's the majors that count for him, and he's still stuck at 14, four behind Nicklaus' record of 18. Once seemingly a lock to break that mark, there is considerable doubt that he can do it now that he's 36 years old.
Just the stakes for winning another U.S. Open are enormous for Tiger Woods, and not just because it's been four years since he won the last one, which was also his last majors triumph. A win would give him four Open titles, tying him with Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Willie Anderson for the most ever.
