PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The sound built and boomed and echoed across the famed Pebble Beach golf course like a 747 on takeoff. Nobody needed to ask. Tiger Woods was back.
At about 6 p.m., a U.S. Open tournament that had chugged along got its mojo back. You could sense TV sets clicking on all over the country. Make that the world.
Somebody up there truly loves NBC. It went from Sunday with Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell, both nice players to be sure, to a ratings bonanza.
Woods still drives the bus in golf. He is a flawed superstar, but the nature of the American sports fan is to forgive the flaws in the face of great performance.
And oh, my. What a great performance it was.
Trailing by as many as nine shots early in his round, Woods stormed back to a 5-under 66 on a course designed to seek and destroy. All week, he has preached patience as speculation grew, that in the aftermath of his self-proclaimed shameful behavior and marriage blowup, he was done, distracted, cooked, toast as a dominant golfer. Then, in one nine-hole stretch reminiscent of the Saturday back nine at Torrey Pines in 2008, en route to his most recent U.S. Open title, he got the doubters back and believing.
"It's a process," he said. "You have to build. I started to feel that what I've been working on was building. I was hitting the ball on my numbers. Something good had to happen."
On the 16th hole, a birdie putt dropped in. Woods pumped his fist with the kind of enthusiasm missing all week. He clearly felt it.
On the 17th, the 208-yard par three, always into the wind, always with impossible pin placements, always with the majority of second shots consisting of little chunk chips from the surrounding deep grass, Woods rolled in a birdie putt by curving it 10 feet, right to left, downhill.
Even superstars make that putt once in 20 tries.
Then he was magic on the par-five 18th, where he just missed an eagle for a birdie tap-in.
We have seen this before. So many times. Woods may not win, but he probably will. The 110th U.S. Open now belongs to him.
While Woods' charge was taking place, Friday's hero, Phil Mickelson, was dumping balls into traps and rough and needing to attempt shots right handed. McDowell was playing match play with Johnson, both grinding to keep their edge while all attention turned to Woods.
As Woods got close to the 18th green, the applause soared and Woods doffed his cap. For a moment, his eyes welled a bit and he mouthed the words, "Thank You."
He is playing with the knowledge that many of the fans who loved him unconditionally now dislike him similarly. Until Saturday, his body language had demonstrated no joy for life and little for golf.
But then, some shots got close and some putts fell in and the smile returned and the swagger was back and golf's planets had moved back into alignment.