Thoughts On Tiger Woods Player Championships Victory

The story of the 2013 Golf season, as often is the case, is Tiger Woods. The 37-year old continues to be Golf's most recognisable figure and it seems that every casual Golf fan is desperate to see Woods back on top.

The past weekend will have given those people some serious hope. Woods secured his fourth win of the season winning The Players Championships at the Sawgrass course in Florida.

Woods played strong golf throughout this tournament holding his range game together and putting well. It looked like he was in for an extremely tough finish in competition against Sergio Garcia. The two players appeared to be headed towards a playoff before Garcia blew his chances putting a pair of tee shots in the water on the 17th hole.

In the end, Woods finished the tournament by hitting a round of 70 on Sunday and with a -13 score across the four days. The Players Championships is generally considered to be the PGA Tour's 'fifth major' in the US.

Tiger's victory this weekend is perhaps more significant for those hoping for the return to greatness for Woods. His previous three wins of the season had all come on courses where he has traditionally succeeded anyway. He won at Sawgrass in 2001 and 2013 was only Woods' second victory at The Players Championships. This isn't a course where he has done particularly well throughout his career and he played well throughout the weekend. Woods once again proved that he is possibly the best front runner in the game.

It appears that Woods' aura has returned as well. Garcia clearly felt the need to go for more on a tough 17th hole, which ended up costing him his chances of forcing a playoff hole. Woods was able to hold his nerve and took one of the bigger tournaments in the US.

Many have already tipped The Players Championships victory as the beginning of Woods' resurgence and a possible sign that he is ready to seriously challenge and win a Major Golf tournament again.

More is still needed for Tiger. Winning a Major remains a hard psychological barrier. The win at Sawgrass was certainly a big boost, but he was gifted the title by Garcia's errors in the end.

When Woods finally does win a Major assuming he does, then talk can return to 'his return'. Until then 78 PGA tour titles, which is just four short of Sam Snead's record, is a pretty good mark for Woods to reach.

Written by Sebastian Egerton-Read - you can follow Seb on twitter @Seberead