Woods out of the trees as Bay Hill win sets his path clear to Augusta

OVER the past month or so Geoff Ogilvy won the World Match Play in Arizona, Phil Mickelson triumphed at Doral, and Retief Goosen posted a reminder of his major championship credentials at the Transitions Championship. As the clock counted down to the Masters, which starts at Augusta on Thursday week, all that was missing from the build-up to the first major of the season was a sign from Tiger Woods that he was competitive again after reconstructive knee surgery.

The waiting ended with a tour de force at Bay Hill. After gaining welcome tournament practice in Tucson and Miami, the world No 1 returned to centre stage in Orlando to dismantle Sean O'Hair's five-shot advantage and win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. In typically exhilarating fashion, Woods holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to card 67 and collect his 66th US Tour event by a shot.

Having been sidelined for the thick end of eight months, Tiger's return to form and fitness impressed the bookmakers so much they shortened the odds yesterday on him winning at Augusta for the first time since 2005 to 7-4. Mickelson at 7-1, Padraig Harrington at 16-1 and Ogilvy, Goosen and Sergio Garcia at 20-1 are the other fancied contenders.

Yet are any of the game's highest ranked players – Mickelson is second, Garcia third, Ogilvy fourth and Harrington fifth – likely to thwart the world No 1 in Georgia if he produces his best golf? On the evidence of Sunday's closing round, Woods has recaptured the putting touch and all the other shots needed to win a fifth green jacket. In spite of being absent for so long through injury, Tiger reckoned winning made him feel as if he'd never been away.

"I hadn't been in the mix since the US Open, so it was neat to feel the heat on the back nine again," he said. "I got myself into the hunt and into contention. It felt good to make a putt like I did at 14 and again at 15. This (victory] feels like we hadn't left.

"You can understand sometimes when some of the older players haven't been in contention in a while and they come back and then all of a sudden they put themselves in contention and then they win. You just remember how to do it. It hasn't been that long for me, but you just have that feel of what to do and it's a matter of getting it done."

Since Woods' career has been defined by his successes in the majors – he's won 14 since turning pro in 1996 – it should be self-evident the American's curtailed schedule has been geared to enhancing his chances of victory at Augusta National. While he didn't play with any great distinction at either Doral or the Match Play, those events can be seen as staging posts on the road to recovery.

Footballers recovered from injury talk about the need for game time and the difference between match sharpness and physical fitness. Pro golfers are no different. "As I look back at the three tournaments I've played this year, I've gotten better at each one," added Woods. "And the whole idea was to keep progressing to Augusta. I was hoping I could get my game where I could feel hitting shots again because I'd only been on the range and putting at home.

"Doral was great for that because I got better each and every day with my feel, and at Bay Hill I came right out of the gate. I had it because basically I got it down at Doral. It feels good to be back, to feel the heat on the back nine on Sunday like that. To have to make a putt at 14 and to make that putt (on the last], those are good times."

The moment after Tiger released a putt on the home hole, taking three or four steps backwards before watching his ball disappear into the cup and then pumping the air with his fist as the crowd surrounding the 18th green celebrated the return of a sporting giant, served to underline that knee surgery hasn't dimmed Woods' flair for televised theatre. "It's been a while," he smiled, "but God, it felt good."

Arnold Palmer hands over a blue blazer to the winner of his tournament and Woods was asked if he felt his chances of adding another green jacket to his wardrobe were enhanced by events in Orlando.

"It does a lot," he replied. "Because it's a validation of what I've been working on from the physical standpoint of all my lifting and preparing physically. But also the work I've been doing with (coach] Hank Heaney and getting all of that organised. Certainly this win definitely validates all the things I've been trying to do."

Only four majors short of Jack Nicklaus' record haul of 18, Woods may be comforted to learn the Bear didn't win 14 until he was 35. At 33, Tiger is poised to take another step closer to glory.

Recent run of form puts Drysdale in 'Premiership' company

FOR a 33-year-old golfer who turned professional as long ago as 1995, David Drysdale's meagre experience of the biggest events on the European Tour is restricted to just one appearance at Wentworth five years ago in the BMW PGA Championship.

owever, the Dunbar golfer's recent run of sterling form – he was runner-up at the Andalucia Open, ninth in Madeira, and third at the Joburg Open – should help the Scot gain a few invites to tee up in the some of the Tour's most rewarding events.

Currently 33rd in the Race to Dubai with earnings of 220,998, it's expected that Drysdale's streak of positive performances will greatly improve his chances of taking part in May at the Irish Open, which boasts a 3 million prize fund, the French Open in June which offers 4m and the flagship BMW PGA, which will have at least 4.5m.

"David is in the Premiership now," reflected his manager, Iain Stoddart of Bounce, yesterday. "He'll re-rank at the very top and, of course, we'll do our best to champion his cause and make sure he gets more chances to test himself in elite company."

Yet to compete in an Open – he did once play as a marker with John Daly in the 1992 Open at Muirfield – Drysdale is also currently second on the Sunshine Tour's Order of Merit.

If he finishes the African campaign among the top three, he'll be invited to play in next year's CA World Championship event at Doral.

Having enjoyed a few celebratory refreshments in the Algarve on Sunday evening before driving north to Lisbon yesterday for this week's Estoril Open, Drysdale aims to keep up the good work in the Portuguese capital and return to East Lothian for a deserved break of a week or two.

Whether or not he travels to Beijing for the Volvo China Open next month will be dictated to some extent by his performance in Portugal. A popular figure on Tour, it wasn't just his fellow Scots who were wishing him well in Seville.

"There's a real compassion on Tour for David among his peer group after he finished one spot outside the Order of Merit two years running," added Stoddart. "He's a nice guy and people are pleased he's got his tail up."