Cue Dinah

What a diff'rence a day made

Twenty-four little hours

Brought the sun and the flowers

Where there used to be rain

My yesterday was blue, dear

Today I'm part of you, dear

My lonely nights are through, dear

Since you said you were mine

Lord what a diff'rence a day makes

There's a rainbow before me

Skies above can't be stormy

Since that moment of bliss, that thrilling kiss

It's heaven when you, find romance on your menu

What a diff'rence a day made

And the difference is you

The planets are back in alignment, the rise of the oceans has been stemmed (yeah, we heard that one before) and, well, I may be out of metaphors for the collective sigh emitted by the golf world.

But he's back...How's this for a lede from Steve DiMeglio:

NASSAU, Bahamas — Well, he is Tiger Woods.

Well, he was!  The proper tense of that verb is still very much in doubt, and has been since June 2008.

But do go on, Steve:

After a 15-month layoff full of doubts concerning his future and two back surgeries, the former world No. 1 didn’t take long to remind one and all that he can once again be a force to be reckoned with in professional golf going forward. 

The fist pump still needs work

Flashes of his brilliance were on display in Thursday’s first round of the Hero World Challengeat Albany Golf Club before he faltered down the stretch and shot 1-over-par 73. Far more brilliance paraded around the course in Friday’s second round when Woods was Woods again. 

The club twirls were back, the swagger evident. He had control of his swing, his trajectory, his distance. His power off the tee was there, his touch on the greens spot on. And his hallmark recovery shots had onlookers shaking their heads, no more so than on the eighth when he flopped a shot from deep sand and over tall grass to six feet to save par. Or on the 16th when he drove into another collection of bushes yet saved par with a 25-footer he punctuated with multiple fist pumps piercing the air.

That's all true, though the day had a post-modern eeriness to it, as Tiger was out there playing alone, Justin Rose withdrew due to back issues, and with spectators few and far between.  Tree, woods.... yeah, except for those Golf Channel cameras.

Doug Ferguson had this:

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Tiger Woods saved par from the dunes with a shot so good that two spectators ran over and scooped up sand for a souvenir. 

It also served as motivation Friday at the Hero World Challenge. The tee shot on the par-3 eighth that landed next to a bush was so bad that Woods said he told caddie Joe LaCava after his par putt, "I'm not dropping a shot." 

And he didn't. 

Woods capped a bogey-free round with an even more unlikely par save on the 16th hole. What stood out on a balmy day at Albany was a seven-hole stretch in the middle of the round in which he never really missed a shot. It led to enough birdies for a 7-under 65, leaving him six shots behind and in a tie for ninth in the 17-man field. 

His golf was as good as it was Thursday, his first competition in 15 months, only this time he eliminated the mistakes.

Sorry to be a stickler, but that last bit is wrong...  He didn't eliminate mistakes, he reduced them and, as Doug notes, recovered from the few that remained, which is what great golfers do.  

And to be fair, the drive that got him in trouble on No. 16 wasn't all that far off line.... just a bad hop into a nasty spot.  

Bob Harig has been the stud of the Tiger-watch recently, and this might be the most interesting thing I've seen yet:

Woods has also apparently learned to stay off the heavy weights. He said his weight is less than 180 after a recent illness, though he looks leaner through his upper body as 

Good to see Frank, even on an M2

well. 

Perhaps that has allowed him to swing more freely. Woods has mostly seemed under control here, without the violent swings that sometimes would creep into his game in recent years. No matter his weight, Woods has always been able to hit the ball plenty far, and that might be among the most encouraging things he's showed this week. His power is back. 

"I can't do what I used to do -- weights, running,'' he said. "My first probably five, six years on tour, I ran 30 miles a week. I would run five, six miles almost every day, at least four. Before a round, after a round, it didn't matter. There's no way in hell I'm doing that now. That's just aging. That's just having four knee surgeries, three backs. My body's been through it.''

Perhaps you never should have?  I always thought that it would be his left knee that ended his career, given that it first met a scalpel back when he had that scarlet "S" on his cap.  So what's a guy with a bad knee doing pounding it for six miles a day?  The heavy lifting also seemed unwise, not that I have much familiarity with it....

Harig also has this word of warning, mostly for us:

"If I'm activated and I can prepare for something, then I'm fine,'' he said. "It's the unexpected. When you have back issues like most of us do out here, it happens.'' 

Woods might be just as likely to tweak his back with a sudden move, picking up one of his kids or reaching awkwardly. Before he plays golf, he goes through a lengthy warm-up procedure that is far more than just hitting golf balls.

Fellow Met. Golf Writers member Mark Cannizarro got this from the Man:

Asked when he went back to using the Scotty Cameron, Woods said, “The day that we were no longer a part of the hard goods side,’’ referring to his main sponsor, Nike, getting out of the club and ball business.

Wowser!  Let me see if I understand this....  he won 13 majors with this flat-stick, the exception being the '97 Masters, and put it in the corner to play a Nike blade.  We don't when he did this, but it logically happened after 2008.  he endured years of wildly inconsistent putting during that stretch, yet couldn't or wouldn't go back to Old Trusty?

How crazy is that?  Even acknowledging his unique relationship with the Cult of the Swoosh, that's just nuts.  

Just a couple of random thoughts before we move on...  There has been no more entertaining golfer the last couple of days than JB Holmes...  He's been pounding it for sure, and was atop the leader board before some mishaps.  Alex Myers has it all, but first he chips in for eagle on No. on the sixth hole.  

Then on No. 7 he duffs a chip on the tight, grainy Bermuda surrounds but, no worries, chips in the next one for a routine up-and-in.   But then he decides to try his hand at water sports on the Par-3 12th, a couple of times to be exact, and we're treated this Van de Veldian scene:

Good times.

Lastly, I forgot to tell you of the funniest moment I notice from Thursday, though I'd encourage you to remember that I don't get out much.  One of my recurring pet peeves about Jordan Spieth is his habit of arranging his hair when he removes his baseball cap....  His hairline is moving at the speed of the Wehrmacht across Poland (apologies, but I just finished a WWII novel) and he delicately arranges the strands of hair such that this won't be apparent.... If only....

It's a silly tic from a good guy, but we have space to fill.... so, as he and Kooch finished their first round, he did the maneuver again, extremely carefully placing each strand of hair.  To my great pleasure, as Kooch took his cap off and walked towards Jordan, he mimicked Jordan's actions though, of course, Kooch has no hair there to arrange.  The cameras immediately cut away and I'm likely the only person in America that noticed it, but it's obvious that his peers have noticed the same thing and have been busting his balls over it...  And that amused me no end, but also makes me like the lot of them even more.... We all need buddies to bust our chops and keep us humble, and I'm glad that Jordan has Kooch to do that for him.

Not to be a downer, but doesn't it seem that Round 3 goes the other direction?  It's still golf after all.... But it's shaping up to be a productive week for The Striped One, and that should make 2017 a more interesting year.