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Tiger poised to pounce in 2011

Tiger Woods was overhauled by Graeme McDowell in the Chevron World Challenge © Getty Images

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"He used to appear invincible. Of course he has made himself appear more human in the last 12 months, but there's something a bit special about his golf game and I fully expect that mystique to return."

After denying Tiger Woods his first piece of silverware in 2010, that was Graeme McDowell's reaction when asked whether he thought the 14-time major champion was returning to the upper echelons of the game.

Despite having a year to forget, Woods continues to attract praise from his peers, both for what he has achieved in the sport and what he will go on to accomplish. McDowell didn't stop there, adding: "I'm definitely a guy who says that golf needs Tiger Woods and we need him back to winning tournaments."

Unfortunately for McDowell and the rest of his rivals, those wins appear not far off, with Tiger looking dangerously close to recapturing his best form. Cynics will point to the fact the American held a four-shot lead going into the final day at the Chevron World Challenge but lost out in a play-off to McDowell.

Barring the 2009 US PGA Championship - where he had a two-stroke lead heading into the final round before finishing second behind YE Yang - final-round jitters are not synonymous with Woods and yet some have been critical of the 34-year-old's inability to lift a first trophy since the Australian Masters in November 2009.

The headlines will say Woods threw away the win, they will cleverly omit the fact that McDowell drained two monster putts to deny Tiger - one to keep his title ambitions alive at the 18th hole and the other to triumph in the sudden-death finale.

Lest we forget the 12 months Woods has endured. After his private life was splashed across the front and back pages for all the wrong reasons, the former world No. 1 didn't return to the golf course until April, five months on from when pictures of his Cadillac ploughed into a fire hydrant and tree in front of a neighbour's house broke on national television.

Clearly not in a suitable state to play at the Masters, he somehow tied for fourth - quite astonishing considering how he was hitting the ball. Then the wheels completely came off. However, missed cuts, dire rounds, a neck injury and splitting with long-term coach Hank Haney aside, Woods has the look of a hungry man making a second coming.

His demeanour has vastly improved and, perhaps even more importantly, he is smiling again. A happy Tiger is an incredibly dangerous animal.

Ominously for McDowell and the rest of the golfing elite, five months of tinkering with swing changes with Sean Foley are starting to bear fruit. McDowell needn't worry, "that mystique" is returning, and at quite a rate.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.