ORLANDO, Fla. — The Australian Adam Scott was asked last week if Tiger Woods could win the Masters.

“This Masters?” said Scott, the 2013 champion, emphasizing the first word. “That would match the entire story of his career.”

Augusta National is Woods’s next stop, and after he posted his 10th consecutive competitive round of par or better — and spent the final nine in contention for the second straight week — he sounded as if the opening round of the Masters on April 5 couldn’t arrive soon enough.

“If you would have given me this opportunity in December and January, I would have taken it in a heartbeat,” Woods said.

From mid-October, when he stood on the practice range making his first tentative full swings after lower lumbar fusion surgery, to Sunday, when he pulled within one stroke of the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with five holes to play, Woods has come remarkably far, remarkably fast.