Tiger Woods birdie putt hits flag with authority (Video)

Tiger Woods is in contention again on Sunday, but he’ll need a little better luck if his putt on No. 5 is any indication.

After a nice runner-up showing last week at the Valspar Championship, Tiger Woods is back at it this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Rounds of 68, 72 and 69 have put him within range of sole leader Henrik Stenson (12 under through three rounds), and Woods was minus-3 on the day as he neared the end of the front nine.

Woods started his final round Sunday with three pars, then he landed a birdie on the par-5 fourth hole. He had another chance at a birdie on the par-4 fifth hole, albeit from a difficult place on the fringe with pace and line as obvious critical components.

Woods gave the putt quite a run, and the having flag in place looks like it saved him from having a lot of work to do in order to preserve par.

The kind of aggressive putts Woods is hitting at Bay Hill brings back memories of his peak. He went on to birdie No. 6, another par-5, and he converted another birdie on the par-4 eighth.

Woods made a bit of a mess of the ninth hole, threatening a beer tent with an ill-conceived fade off the tee and settling for bogey to make the turn with a 34 (two under on the day). He’s five shots behind Stenson as he gets set to start the back-nine. So barring a fantastic late charge, while Stenson and a few others completely fall apart, Woods won’t be going home a winner on Sunday.

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But Woods is rounding into some semblance of his prime form, just in time for The Masters in a couple weeks. He has taken advantage of the par-5s at Bay Hill, as he always did while winning majors and generally dominating his peers.