Sitting semi-pretty

OK, OK. So maybe he'll do it. Maybe. Just ... maybe.

Remember that one?

From, like, three weeks ago?

Yes, that was the Blob, all right, eating crow, or at least nibbling at it. That was the Blob -- after Tiger Woods finished fifth in the British Open and actually led on Sunday for a nanosecond -- conceding that maybe the guy wasn't done, maybe the dirt nap could wait, maybe he actually, well, might win another major before his back gives out again, thereby making the Blob look like a big ol' windbaggin' goober.

("Like that's hard," you're saying.)

And now ...

Well. Now, here we are.

Sunday, again. A major, again. And here is Tiger Woods laying out his Sunday red, because he's right there again, four strokes back with 18 holes to play, back-to-back 66s in his pocket giving notice that the man still has a bit of golf in him yet.

Maybe this is the day that'll be enough, and he wins the PGA, his 15th major, wins it almost a full decade after he won No. 14.

Or, not. Probably not. Although who knows.

Here's the difference, see, between a decade ago and now: Cringe Mode is dead. By which I mean, no one flinches anymore ("Oh, God, it's HIM!") when they see Tiger leading or within striking distance on Sunday. A decade on, golf is stuffed with great young players whose experience with Tiger Woods is vastly different, because he himself is vastly different. To them, he's a 42-year-old guy with a bad back and a great name who's just another quality stick they have to climb over to grab the big prize. He's not TIGER WOODS anymore. He's just Tiger Woods, a golfer with game among many.

Coming to Sunday, after all, he's tied for sixth, but there's a pile of sharp objects around him. One guy he's tied with is Justin Thomas, who shot a 65 yesterday. Another is Jason Day, whom no one could beat for awhile not all that long ago. There is Shane Lowry, who shot 64 yesterday. There is Charl Schwartzel, who shot 63.

Up ahead, meanwhile, Adam Scott sits at 10-under, having scorched the joint with back-to-back 65s. Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler are a stroke back at minus-9. And the leader, at 12-under, is Brooks Koepka.

All he's done is win the last two U.S. Opens.

That's an awful lot of quality to have to wade through for our aforementioned 42-year-old. And none of them is scared of him, not the way everyone was a decade ago. He's a contender, but, hell, they're all contenders. Four of them have won majors, and Day and Fowler have long been considered the next most likely to.

So maybe this is their day instead.

Or, you know, not.