Woods rekindles brilliance that bestowed an aura of greatness

Quite some time before they reached into the most hallowed wardrobe in all of sport here in the dusk, it was plain that something more was at stake than the fabled green jacket of the US Masters.

Quite some time before they reached into the most hallowed wardrobe in all of sport here in the dusk, it was plain that something more was at stake than the fabled green jacket of the US Masters.

It was the status of the comeback of Tiger Woods. Was the Tiger alive again to all the possibilities of sublime, sometimes even surreal golf? Yes, he was, and he proved it with a shot of bizarre enterprise and genius on the 16th hole, a creeping, trickling chip that came straight from the golfing heavens. That brought him another major title and the end of a drought of more than two years.

But it didn't totally answer a biting question, and certainly not when Chris DiMarco defied the weight of availablelogic and form and carried Woods into a play-off. The Tiger won it with a nerveless 15-foot putt but not in the way he had planned.

Was the Tiger indeed just simply snatching a little of some old glory before returning to the challenge that has come to dominate every day of his life - the battle to win back greatness that was accepted as one of the wonders of modern sport as recently as two years ago.

That seemed to have become the most compelling issue as Woods appeared to close on a fourth Masters title by leading doggedly brave journeyman Chris DiMarco into the back nine with a three-stroke lead.

Unfortunately for the Tiger legend, in all the rising pressure no one got around to mentioning it to DiMarco, a 36-year-old New Yorker who had twice before disappeared from the top of the leader board but now was fighting against malevolent fate with a stunning 35-yard putt on the 11th green. It brought the margin down to one shot and invited a hard question: was the new Tiger a myth? Before this onset of crisis at Amen Corner - where Woods had received his greatest hallelujahs with birdies on the 12th en route to his victories in 1997 and 2001 - there was no more than this single point of tension after the extraordinary recreation of some of the best of his talent.

The question was whether he could hold the majesty - and bite - that had so consumed the 69th Masters on its third day and fourth morning and had seen Woods move from two-over par to 11-under in just a few minutes more than 24 hours? As he walked to the first tee in the gilded sunshine of mid-afternoon yesterday for the final round - and one of the great dramas of his extraordinary career - the companions of his spirit were the late Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan and a Jack Nicklaus who had just stepped from inside the Augusta National ropes, for the last time, to go fishing in Florida.

Woods had again brought to Augusta the renewed possibility of mysterious, dazzling force way beyond the norm of the sporting imagination. But was he doing no more than making a mirage? He did it for real as a 21-year-old eight years ago, winning by 12 strokes. Now he just had to negotiate another 18 holes as he played the previous 27. He had to keep his head - and his nerve. On recent evidence it seemed well within his suddenly regathered powers.

But though Woods delivered another devastating one-two with birdies on the first and second holes, the expected demolition of an overmatched DiMarco was slow to proceed to any Mount Olympus of golf.

Suddenly the Tiger was pensive, and at the fifth he dropped a shot to go back to a three-shot margin. At the seventh he had to inject a little ice into his veins to make a save that kept his control, but not without at least a hint of concern that the afternoon had the promise of unwanted shocks.

As he built his second round lead, DiMarco might just have fancied that he, like everyone else, had seen the waning of the most destructive potential of the Tiger's game. That was no more than a pretty idea as Woods emerged to finish off his third round yesterday with two more birdies that landed like power punches in the first round of a heavyweight title fight. DiMarco demoralised response was a double bogey.

In all of this, said the Tiger, there was an understanding that he still had so much work to do. "It's not over, I know. I can't take anything for granted. The moment you do that, in whatever situation, you are looking for trouble." Still, there was one overwhelming reality. It was that Woods, whatever happened when the shadows came last night, had re-established a capacity to achieve extraordinary feats on a golf course. The only question was how consistently could it be produced.

One harsh conclusion had to be that it was not often enough as the ill-considered DiMarco fought Woods into a state of increasing self-doubt. By the 15th hole DiMarco had Tiger pinned against the ropes. Woods had to produce something utterly remarkable from the fringe of the green. He did with his heavenly chip, pushing his lead back to two strokes. But there was crisis as Woods was obliged to dig himself out trouble off the 17th fairway. The march to glory had become an ordeal of nerve.

It was one that was not going to be resolved before the last green, which is not where anyone could have believed this battle would have to be settled.

Before embarking on the last round that could take him to his ninth major title - and to the half way mark of the record of Nicklaus which in the last two years had begun to look so impregnable - Woods was asked if he had questioned his chances in the last few days.

"No," he said firmly. But then maybe he was bluffing. Maybe he was counting on the fact that somewhere he might just come up with one of the greatest shots golf had ever seen. He did - but for the most agonising moments of his life it didn't count for a thing.