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Roaring Tiger claims game is coming together

Tiger Woods ended his PGA Tour drought with victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and he has fired an ominous warning ahead of the Masters by claiming his game is "coming together at the right time".

Woods has shown flashes of brilliance this year only to falter at some stage over the four days. That did not happen at Bay Hill. He quite simply crushed the spirit of nearest pursuer Graeme McDowell with a masterclass in iron play. Time and again he peppered the flags after finding the fairways with his tee shots and his putting looked rock solid in the heat of battle.

With the Masters a little over a week away, Woods will head home to prepare for Augusta and he will travel to the opening major of the year in a fine frame of mind.

"It feels good, it's been a lot of hard work," Woods, who is now up to No. 6 in the world, said. Looking ahead to the Masters, he added: "I am excited, no doubt. It is always fun to get there. I am looking forward to the momentum I have built here and the things that I have worked on in my game that are all coming together at the right time."

Woods feels his win at Bay Hill was a reward for perseverance. He said: "It is not like winning a major, but it feels really good.

"I have been close a number of times since Australia. It is a case of staying the course. We knew the things that we were working on were coming together. Things were starting to solidify. The golf ball wasn't moving, the ball flight was so tight. The hardest thing was the distances, I have been a yard off, a yard here and a yard there. It was just a case of being patient."

Ernie Els will head to the Shell Houston Open this week knowing he needs victory to book his place at the Masters. He needed to finish third at Bay Hill to secure a place in the field, but his chances evaporated when he made a hash of the 17th - finding the hazard with his tee shot and failing to get up and down.

World Rankings: 1. Luke Donald (ENG), 2. Rory McIlroy (NIR), 3. Lee Westwood (ENG), 4. Martin Kaymer (GER), 5. Steve Stricker (USA), 6. Tiger Woods (USA), 7. Charl Schwartzel (RSA), 8. Justin Rose (ENG), 9.Webb Simpson (USA), 10. Adam Scott (AUS), 11. Jason Day (AUS), 12. Dustin Johnson (USA), 13. Graeme McDowell (NIR), 14. Hunter Mahan (USA), 15. Phil Mickelson (USA), 16. Bill Haas (USA), 17. Matt Kuchar (USA), 18. Bubba Watson (USA), 19. Nick Watney (USA), 20. Keegan Bradley (USA)

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