Tiger Woods almost won his first PGA Tour event since 2013

Here’s a full recap and video highlights of Tiger Woods’ final round at the 2018 Valspar Championship.

It’s Sunday on the PGA Tour and Tiger Woods was in contention — what year is this? After years of struggles with injury and personal issues, the 14-time major championship winner was right in the thick of things as the final round of the Valspar Championship got underway and found himself right there at the end of the day but just couldn’t quite get the job done, finishing one shot behind winner Paul Casey.

Trailing leader Corey Conners by just one shot coming into the final round at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida, Woods teed off in the second-to-last pairing at 1:50 p.m. ET alongside Brandt Snedeker to a huge ovation and got things going early.

He hit the fairway and reached the 529-yard, par-5 first hole in two and tapped in for birdie after just missing his eagle attempt, tying him for the lead at 9-under. Snedeker also tapped in for birdie to join Woods and Conners at the top of the leaderboard.

Tiger hit his second consecutive fairway at the par-4, 425-yard second but, like Brandt Snedeker, came up short on his approach shot, leaving him more than 52 feet for birdie. He left that putt far shorter than he would have liked, leaving himself a little four-foot tester which he was able to hole to stay at 9-under, leaving him atop the leaderboard with Justin Rose after Corey Conners bogeyed the first and Snedeker bogeyed the second to drop to 8-under. Patrick Reed, who got off to a hot start in his own right, was also 8-under at this point.

Tiger’s tee shot at the 428-yard, par-4 third just trickled off the fairway, leaving him with 206 yards left to the hole and hit a nice, little draw to about 28 feet. He left his birdie attempt just short but tapped in for a ho-hum par to stay at 9-under.

With the wind picking up at Innisbrook, Tiger hit six-iron at the 186-yard, par-4 fourth hole and nearly went into the front bunker, his shot just clearing the hazard before ending up on the fringe 46 feet away. He chipped up to five feet but yanked his par putt left, dropping him back to 8-under,  tied with Patrick Reed and one shot behind leader Justin Rose.

Up next for Tiger was the 602-yard, par-5 fifth hole and he ripped a 311-yard drive down the fairway, leaving him 274 yards to the pin. His second shot was not a good-looking swing as he stepped out of the shot a bit and sprayed it into the right bunker, certainly not what he was looking for after the bogey at the fourth. However, he recovered nicely with a soft-landing bunker shot from 42 yards away, leaving him with just under 13 feet for birdie, a putt he just slid by the cup on the right, which left him another tester for par. But Woods was able to hole it and remain at 8-under, still one off the pace.

Tiger hit iron off the tee, as he’s done for a lot of the week, on the par-4 sixth and stripped it down the fairway.

He had 175 yards left to the hole for his second shot but didn’t quite get enough, even with a decent tail wind, and had a 50-foot right-to-left putt for his birdie. He certainly got enough of that putt as he stroked it well past the hole. But as he’s done so many times in his career, he holed a lengthy par putt to stay just one back of Justin Rose at 8-under.

Tiger once again hit iron at the narrow, par-4 seventh hole and once again gave the crowd a twirl after hitting another fairway. Woods was left with 141 yards to the hole and hit a solid approach to within 10 feet. Unfortunately for Tiger, he just didn’t hit the putt and came up two feet short and tapped in for a par to stay at 8-under, one behind Justin Rose, Paul Casey, who threw a dart in at the 12th hole to get to 9-under, and Patrick Reed, who himself got to 9-under just moments after Tiger’s par.

With the wind swirling in the trees above, Tiger hit 5-iron at the 228-yard, par-3 eighth and hit a beautiful, high draw to within 12 feet. He hit the putt he wanted to hit and even started walking towards it as he expected it to drop. But it hit the left edge and lipped out ever so slightly, prompting a fun, four-letter word. He tapped in for par to stay at 8-under, two shots back of Paul Casey, who had birdied the 13th to get to 10-under, and one shot behind Rose and Reed.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/972919954612858880

Woods switched back to the driver for the 424-yard, par-4 ninth and took an old-school Tiger swipe at it, perhaps due to some frustration after the missed putt. The result wasn’t overly favorable as his ball landed in the rough on the left, leaving him behind a small pine. With his ball sitting up a bit, Tiger contemplated a bit before deciding on what type of shot to hit. He chose to go left of the tree and he was still able to get the ball all the way around to the back-right pin placement, his ball just trickling off the green. He chose to chip with the pin out and just missed to the right in an aggressive effort. He once again tapped in for par to shoot an even-par 36 on the front nine. He headed to the back nine tied for fourth, two shots behind leader Paul Casey.

Tiger ripped a 317-yard 3-wood down the fairway at the par-4 10th to open his back nine, giving him his sixth fairway hit in eight opportunities. He was left with 131 yards to the pin but pulled his approach shot a little left, leaving him just over 23 feet for birdie, a putt which he again didn’t get enough of. He tapped in for par to stay at 8-under.

Woods found trouble off the tee at the 560-yard, par-5 11th as his tee shot went left and rolled into a bunker. With 274 yards left to the flag, Tiger had no choice but to lay up with his second shot and was left with 122 yards from the fairway. With a slight wind in his face, he once again pulled a very short iron, missing the green to the left. From the thick rough and his ball sitting down a bit, the 79-time PGA Tour winner hit a brilliant shot that nearly went in the hole. He holed the short putt for his seventh consecutive par, leaving him still two shots behind Casey at 8-under.

Tiger was back hitting iron at the 369-yard, par-4 12th and had a much better result than the previous hole as he once again found the fairway. With 157 yards to the hole, Woods once again couldn’t get very close to the hole on his approach and was left with just under 30 feet for birdie. He was nowhere near the hole as he went left and long with his putt and had yet another tester coming back for his par. He was once again able to salvage a par with a firm stroke and remained at 8-under, still two shots behind as Paul Casey finished up his round, finishing at 10-under with a  brilliant 65, including just 21 putts, tying Sergio Garcia for the low round of the day.

Needing to make something happen, Woods came to the 172-yard, par-3 13th and hit a solid 8-iron to about 15 feet. Once again, however, he just couldn’t get the putt to drop, leaving the right-to-left putt on the high side and sliding it right by. He would make the comebacker for yet another par, leaving him still at 8-under and two shots back.

With the big stick back in hand, Woods smoked his drive through the corner on the 593-yard, par-5 14th, just rolling through the fairway but still in good position to get to the green in two. With just over 250 yards to the hole, Tiger took a hard swing with a long iron and after hitting the green, the ball rolled a yard or two off, setting up a long eagle opportunity. Choosing to putt, Tiger left himself a great attempt for birdie but couldn’t convert and settled for his 10th consecutive par, remaining two shots behind Casey and Patrick Reed.

With four holes left to play, Woods once again went left on the 208-yard, par-3 15th hole, leaving himself in the first cut of rough just over 30 feet from the hole. Tiger got the crowd excited with his attempt, nearly holing the delicate chip shot but coming up just over a foot short. He tapped in for par to remain at 8-under.

Tiger hit 3-wood off the tee at the 446-yard, par-4 16th and although it looked good at the start, his ball went just through the fairway and nestled into the intermediate cut of rough, leaving somewhat of an awkward lie for his second shot, approximately 165 yards away from the hole. His approach looked good and landed just about 15 feet to the left of the hole but coming out of the rough, there wasn’t much spin on the ball and it ended up rolling to the edge of the green, leaving over 41 feet for birdie. He lagged up for another tap-in and with two holes to play, Woods was still two back of the leaders.

Tiger hit a left-to-right shot at the 196-yard, par-3 17th but couldn’t find the magic he found earlier in the week when he hit his tee shot 19 inches from the hole. This particular shot ended up close to 44 feet away from the hole and then the Tiger moment happened. Breaking from right to left, Woods threw it out there and just let the Tiger magic happen. One down. One to go.

With Patrick Reed on the green up ahead, Tiger needed a good drive at the last and he succeeded in that task, once again striping an iron down the middle. Things got even more interesting as Reed bogeyed the final hole to drop to 9-under and out of contention. Needing a birdie to tie now-sole leader Paul Casey, Woods, hitting from 185 yards, came up short and had 38 feet up the hill to get to 10-under and force a playoff with Paul Casey. With the crowd on the edge of their collective seats, Tiger needed one more magic moment but just couldn’t get enough on it. He came up just short on the putt and just short of his 80th PGA Tour win.

Even without a victory, Tiger Woods proved to everyone and perhaps most of all to himself that he’s back and ready to contend.

Next: Ranking all 18 holes at Augusta National

What are your thoughts on Tiger Woods’ performance at the Valspar Championship? Can he win The Masters? Feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section below.