In the press conference following his Masters victory, Tiger Woods was asked when was the moment he truly believed he could win at Augusta. It was a fair question—his results on the year coming into the first major were only okay. He hadn’t missed a cut but he also hadn’t finished a stroke-play event closer than eight shots behind the champion. Still, Woods said he was encouraged enough by his ball striking in those tournaments to believe he had a chance to get major No. 15, leaderboards be damned.

How do we explain that level of confidence despite having not contended on a Sunday afternoon all season? At this point in his career, winning non-majors is a nice bonus but hardly the objective for Tiger. The singular focus is peaking for the four biggest events in the sport, and that means using “regular” Tour events as glorified tune-ups. They are, so to speak, a testing ground for Woods to grow comfortable with his swing and the shots he’ll need in his arsenal to navigate a major championship. By the time Augusta rolled around, he felt comfortable hitting cuts off draw lies and turning over his driver and nipping high spinners. That, more than any result, gave him reason to believe his game was where it needed to be.

Given that context, it’s safe to say that Tiger’s performance in the Memorial Tournament—despite finishing a full 10 shots behind Patrick Cantlay’s winning total—was ideal preparation for the U.S. Open, which somehow begins in just 10 days. Yes, he posted three under-par rounds on a major-style golf course and yes, he closed with a 67 that vaulted him into a backdoor T9 finish. But it’s the manner in which he played, particularly on Sunday, that should be most encouraging for Woods and his fans.

Woods’ greatest strength throughout his career has been his iron play, and that’s also been the case in this most recent comeback. He won the Masters largely with his approach play. He hit a number of shots to tap-in range that week and hardly ever missed in the wrong places, allowing him to win the tournament despite having a less-than-stellar putting week. The iron play was again terrific at the Memorial, as he picked up more than five shots on the field approaching the greens and ranked ninth in that stat for the week. But Tiger’s iron play is almost always dialed in. The same can’t be said for his play off the tee, which is going to be crucial at Pebble Beach.

While the two most recent editions of our national championship (Shinnecock and Erin Hills) have featured generous fairways, Pebble will be setup like a classic U.S. Open. The fairways will be quite narrow and the penalty for missing them will be severe. A good driving week at the Memorial was just what the doctor ordered and just what Tiger summoned. He hit 42 of 56 fairways at Muirfield Village, including 12 of 14 during the final-round 67. And he did so using a variety of shots—the long iron stinger was there:

Few things prettier in golf.



Or life, really. pic.twitter.com/sb4Jr6BAXs



— Daniel Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) May 30, 2019

The butter-cut driver, which he relied on heavily at Augusta, also appears to be grooved. This is his go-to shot. The swing is less violent (113-115 miles per hour instead of the 118-120 range when he wants to crank one). He starts it down the left side and trusts that it will peel back into the fairway:

72

74

72

67

72

65

67

68

69

65

66

66

70

69

73



With a final-round scoring average of 69.00, @TigerWoods has a propensity for shooting low scores on Sunday at the @MemorialGolf.



He begins his fourth round at 11:40 a.m. ET.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/0HH5XdqqXB



































— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2019

Just as crucially, Woods is also comfortable ripping a high draw when he has to. This will come in handy on holes like the long par-4 No. 2 at Pebble, and the par-5 No. 14:

😤@TigerWoods unleashed his frustration on this one.



It went 339 yards. 😳



The longest on hole 13 today.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/HbHwU9itjI







— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 1, 2019

“Each day I got a little more crisp,” Woods told reporters after Sunday’s round. “I had a few mistakes and didn’t keep the card as clean as I’d like. A couple of loose iron shots here and there, but overall I drove it great this week.”

Story continues