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The story of the hole that could hold the key to Tiger Woods' return

NEW PROVIDENCE ISLAND, Bahamas — Losing your grip on a golf course is like losing your grip on a snowy road. When things go awry, they can go very bad, very fast.

Tiger Woods had been picking apart the Albany course Friday at the Hero World Challenge, taking advantage of calm winds and generous pin placements to post a seven-under round through the 15th hole of his second round. As he stood on the tee at 16, he was riding a four-birdies-in-five-holes run, a fist-pumping, putter-slapping streak that could make even the cynical wonder, what if

The 16th at Albany is the toughest hole on the course, a 485-yard uphill par-4 that victimized Woods on Thursday to the tune of a double-bogey. The clubhouse was virtually in sight, a fine round all but in the books. Woods, playing solo after Justin Rose’s withdrawal, had been blazing through the course at a pace of 9 minutes, 40 seconds per hole, and he was less than half an hour from capping off a triumphant second verse of his return.

And then Woods’ tee shot drifted wide and kicked deep into Albany’s treacherous waste area, where sand and sawgrass conceal club-snapping limestone. This was beyond ugly; this was potentially catastrophic. A bogey seemed the best possible outcome.

As he walked toward the bushes, his two double-bogeys to finish Thursday’s round (that took him from 3-under to 1-over) still very much on his mind, Woods turned to his caddie, Joe LaCava. “Joey,” Woods said, “I’m not dropping a shot.”

Tiger Woods' save from the rough at 16. (Getty Images)
Tiger Woods’ save from the rough at 16. (Getty Images)

It was the kind of bold, hyperconfident statement that used to serve as a forecast, but in recent years has brought only eye-rolling. Sure, Tiger, whatever you say. With 168 yards to the pin, Woods chopped at the ball, sending it maybe 100 yards but not out of the waste area. An approach (his third shot) to the green left Woods with 25 feet to salvage par, and — like the Woods of old — he curled it in with a fist pump straight from the year 2000.

“Sixteen was big,” Woods said after the round. “I wanted to keep that card clean. Somehow, I don’t know what it is about playing and competing, but keeping cards clean, there’s something really special and it feels pretty good about doing that.”

The putt salvaged a bogey-free 65 — 7-under for the round — in what amounted to the second-best score of the day. And while Tiger is still six strokes back of leader Dustin Johnson, he’s three closer to the top than he was following Thursday’s 1-over 73.

Tiger Woods pumps his fist after dropping a lengthy par put on 16. (AP)
Tiger Woods pumps his fist after dropping a lengthy par put on 16. (AP)

Look, 16 at Albany on a Friday in a clam-bake tournament won’t break the top 100 of golf holes Tiger Woods has carded in his life, a list that begins with the 16th at Augusta in 2005, the 18th at Torrey in 2008, the 16th at Scottsdale in 1997, and the 17th at Sawgrass in 2001. But still: this was the first real test of the next chapter of Tiger Woods, a test that he passed better than anyone could have expected.

Plus, even though the Hero World Challenge is a points-paying event in the world rankings, this doesn’t yet have the feel of a tournament, and not just because the field is about one-seventh of a standard tournament. The gallery at the Hero World Challenge is … well, it’s “sparse” in the same way that space is “empty.” Woods hasn’t yet played a shot in front of more than 100 people this entire week, and those that have seen him haven’t quite known what to do. Putts that would have brought cheers that rattled the pines in Augusta have drawn only mild applause and a whoop or two.

Still, there are signs that something interesting is afoot. There’s the little girl whom Woods tossed a ball just after the 7th green. It’s an interesting twist given that Woods has spent most of his career as silent as an Easter Island statue as fans call his name. Oh, and then there was this, the return of Tiger-onset dementia:

Woods is making believers again of plenty of people, one hole at a time. And on the 16th hole on Friday, he might have made a believer of himself, too.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.