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It’s only one round. And while it’s a very nice round, a solid round, a round good enough to own a share of the lead after 18 holes of The Barclays, it’s still just one round. But when it’s Tiger Woods — the guy who’s ranked as the world’s top golfer but who certainly hasn’t played like it this year — then it’s really more than just one round. Is his 6-under 65 on Thursday a statement that Tiger’s back for good? That the return to Tiger-like domination has officially started? That his ranking of 112th in FedExCup points will soon be replaced by a position in the single digits? Or is it just a blip on the screen, like that third-round 66 was earlier this year at the U.S. Open? We won’t know until later this week, of course, whether this was simply a flash of brilliance or a sign of things to come. But if you’re surprised that Tiger Woods shot 65 — his lowest round of the year — to open his FedExCup title defense, then you probably don’t carry a PGA TOUR card in your wallet. "We’ve been telling everybody it’s only a matter of time," Brandt Snedeker said. "Nobody’s been listening to us. Everybody’s been trying to write him off. "I think he’s getting ready to prove all the guys on TOUR right — that he is that good." Vaughn Taylor, the author of the "other" 65 on Thursday, certainly wasn’t scratching his head, trying to remember who that guy was next to his name on the leaderboard. "I don’t think anybody is surprised when he plays well," Taylor said. "Just looks like if he tweaked his swing and made a couple putts, he’d be right back in there." Maybe the closure in his personal life has helped clear Tiger’s mind. But perhaps the more important developoment, at least as it pertains to Woods’ golf game, is the work he’s been doing with Sean Foley. Although Foley hasn’t officially been announced as Tiger’s new swing coach, he’s certainly looking better and better during the interview process. Woods sounded positively giddy to "hit the ball flush like this again." Foley received an audition at the PGA Championship and even though Tiger didn’t contend, he finished tied for 28th and had four rounds he could at least build on. "Seemed like he had something going better at the PGA," Adam Scott said. "… If he’s got a nice, good feeling, swing with something new and fresh — we all feel good after that. For him to piece things together, I think, can’t be too hard. He’s very good." Other than Taylor, there was no one better on Thursday. Woods hit 13 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation. If you’re into percentages, that’s 92 percent on fairways (tied for highest in the field) and 83 percent on greens. Compare that to Tiger’s averages coming in — 55.3 percent on fairways (ranking him 180th on TOUR) and 62.6 percent on greens (ranking him 174th). That would be what we in the media world like to call "noticeable differences." "Obviously, he’s better," Scott Verplank said. "This is not a golf course you can slap it around. You can’t hit it all over the place and get away with it. I would assume that whoever he’s working with is helping him." TOUR pros, of course, have an easier time winning tournaments when Tiger’s off his game. But you shouldn’t assume that dread and dismay were their prevalent emotions upon seeing that 65 on Thursday. Players are smart enough to know that Tiger at his best is good for the game. "Unlike what most people think, we want him playing his best," Snedeker said. "We’re fans, too. We like to see guys do stuff that we can’t do. "So we want him playing his best. It makes us better, pushes us to be better." But it needs to be more than just one round, one 65. The next three days, we’ll find out just how close Tiger is to playing at his best again, starting with Friday when he tees off at 12:10 p.m. ET. That’s five hours later than his Thursday tee time when he was in the first group. Unlike in the first round, Woods won’t have the benefit Friday of untrampled greens for nine holes, and the winds will likely be more of a factor. "I don’t know," Verplank said with complete deadpan humor. "That (65) might be a flash in the pan." So far, it’s just one 65. But a few more from Tiger this week will change the entire complexion of the Playoffs.
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