Vintage Tiger Catches Fire At Tour Championship

By Two Inches Short
Updated: September 22, 2018

We got a taste of vintage Tiger Woods on Saturday at the Tour Championship and it was awesome. Woods torched East Lake Golf Club’s front 9 carding 6 birdies in his first 7 holes, going out in 5-under 30 to grab the solo lead heading into Sunday.

It was an absolute clinic. You gotta see these highlights:

First hole, right out of the gate … birdie.

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@tigerwoods brings the noise on the opening hole. Wow. #LiveUnderPar

A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour) on Sep 22, 2018 at 11:50am PDT

Made par on 2, but then went back-to-back birdies on 3 and 4.

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This is getting silly. @tigerwoods birdies 3 of his opening 4 holes @playofffinale. #LiveUnderPar 🔥🔥🔥

A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour) on Sep 22, 2018 at 12:22pm PDT

Fired a dart on the 442 yard par-4 5th and rolled in the putt for his 4th birdie in 5 holes.

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@tigerwoods has started Moving Day 3-3-3-3-3. 👀 #LiveUnderPar

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FIVE consecutive threes!

Then after a pedestrian birdie on the par-5 6th, he gave us shades of Glen Abbey when he launched a 172-yard 9-iron out of the fairway bunker on 7 to 5 feet.

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9-IRON FROM 172 YARDS OUT OF THE SAND.

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SIX BIRDIES IN SEVEN HOLES!

Woods made par on 8, but bogeyed the par-3 9th. Blah, whatever. It was a grind on the back, but he managed to keep it together posting 65, the best score of the day.

LEADERBOARD

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But that stretch of golf took us back to place we haven’t seen in over a decade. A healthy Tiger Woods playing golf in full stride is one of the greatest gifts the world has ever seen. Let’s not take it for granted.

A little over a year ago he didn’t know if he’d ever play competitively again. Now he’s got a 3 shot lead heading into Sunday, something he’s had 23 times before in his career and has slammed the door all 23.

This time it isn’t just the Tour Championship on the line. This is for a chance to cement one of the greatest comebacks in sports … and potentially open the floodgates to a brand new chapter in his storied career.

And to be paired with Rory McIlroy on a Sunday….

We recall this image of Rory offering his sympathies to a physically and emotionally broken Tiger at the 2015 Masters. We thought this was it. This was the end.

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And just like that … he’s back.