He made the Cut

For the first time in more than six months Tuesday, Tiger Woods showed up at a press tent.

And hit a monster drive.

"The strength has come back better than ever," he said.

Better than ever? A golfer wins 14 major titles, undergoes reconstructive knee surgery, and now his strength is better than ever?

He then hit a perfect approach.

"It's better than it's been in over a decade," he said.

Over a decade? A golfer wins 65 tournament titles, yet it turns out that he's been hurting for over a decade?

He finished with a precision putt.

"I don't want to be the same . . . I want to become better," he said. "I want to become better than I was, and this leg will help me in that process."

You're kidding me, right? I drove an hour in the rain to witness a golfer finally facing his mortality, yet, once again, waiting for me was a Tiger?

I didn't want to believe it. It would have been a better story. It would have been a real story.

I attended Woods' news conference before his Chevron World Challenge at the Sherwood Country Club to view, for the first time, greatness at rest, a masterpiece's mortality, the strong-willed local kid finally brought down by last summer's season-ending surgery.

He started swinging seriously only a couple of weeks ago. He might not play a competitive tournament until the Masters. He is humbled and scared and . . . nah.

"Long-term, this is the greatest thing that could have happened," he said.

Same old Tiger. Only, in, like, better shape.

"I remember in 2002 when they went in there in December to clean it out and they found out I only had about 20% of my [knee ligament] left. . . . The fact that I made it this far was amazing without it rupturing," he said. "Things that I was dealing with, I don't feel that anymore."

Let's see, hmm, since 2002, he has won six majors and 31 tournaments overall.

With 20% of his knee? So what happens now?

"It feels stronger, more stable. It's not sliding all over the place; my bones aren't moving," he said of the knee, adding, "Just in the last couple of weeks to be able to hit fuller shots . . . it was like, hey, this is what people actually play with, this is kind of nice."

Kind of nice. That's just wonderful. Here's guessing he kind of breaks Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories in about three minutes.

The surgery went so great, apparently doctors even injected him with a sense of humor.