It gets complicated, but the best measure is simply that he has won every tournament he has played since the first week of September.
"We don't have time for me to tell you what I think about Tiger and his golf," Palmer said Wednesday. "Because I think that right now, he has got it by the neck, and he's choking it. And he should."
Bay Hill is the true start to Woods' road to the Masters, the first leg of a Grand Slam that he has said was "easily within reason." Next up is the CA Championship at Doral, where Woods has won three straight years.
The tournament also got three additions Wednesday during a bizarre chain of events that began when John Daly missed his pro-am time and was disqualified from the tournament.
Daly, playing on a sponsor's exemption, said he called Tuesday to get his pro-am time, but was given his tee time for the first round, which was 9:47 a.m. His pro-am time was 8:40 a.m., and when Daly didn't show up, he no longer was eligible to play.
The first two alternates — Ryuji Imada and Nick O'Hern — thought they were not supposed to be at Bay Hill until the afternoon. When they weren't around to take Daly's spot, they were disqualified, too.
Ernie Els previously withdrew, citing fatigue. That leaves only three of the top 10 in the world ranking — defending champion Vijay Singh is No. 11 — but plenty of interest because of a certain No. 1.
A victory for Woods at Bay Hill would give him four tournaments that he has won at least five times.
"He can play pretty average and win," Masters champion Zach Johnson said. "Most of us have to play pretty darned good. Plus, he's got that Nicklaus aura when he's in contention."
During four bountiful years of posing with Palmer and the silver sword trophy, Woods had a 67.93 scoring average and was 65-under par. In the four lean years that followed, his average has been 71.37, and he is 2 under.
Perhaps more noteworthy is he only three-putted twice over 288 holes of winning. During the drought, he has had eight three-putts.
"I'm heading in the right direction," Woods said. "Really excited about the way I'm progressing this year so far. Getting better each and every event, which is good."
