After the loudspeaker announcements signalled the end of the weather delay early on Friday evening, battalions of fans streamed back on to the course and marched along the manicured walkways of Augusta National in a long column.
They headed to the grandstands grouped around the 15th green, desperate to witness the most stirring episode yet in the return of their hero.
They gathered there under the brooding sky as the rain fell in sheets and waited patiently as Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele and Gary Woodland appeared over the crest of the hill on the fairway and played their approach shots.
Tiger Woods has rediscovered his old self at the 2019 Masters tournament and is in fine form
There was not long to wait now. Tiger Woods was in the next group.
Fleetwood and his playing companions were on the green circling their putts when it happened. Out of the hush came a huge roar from the stands that startled those who had not seen its source: on the leaderboard behind the green, between the names of ‘Harding’ and ‘Johnson D’, a new nameplate had been inserted. It was ‘Woods’. He was on the charge.
The crowds at the 15th did not know it then but the circus around Woods had moved into full swing at the 14th when a security guard had rushed over to shepherd spectators away from the 14-time Major winner, slipped on the damp grass and clipped Woods’ ankle as he fell.
Woods hopped away in pain but avoided injury. The galleries, and the security guard, breathed a sigh of relief. Woods birdied the hole.
After Fleetwood and his partners had left the 15th green, Woods strode over the hill and down the left hand side of the fairway through the trees to where his ball lay.
Wherever he goes, Tiger Woods always attracts hundreds of fans who fill the fairway edges
He pitched it high into the air and it fell in a graceful arc about 20 feet from the pin and came to rest. Woods knew that if he made the putt, it would bring him to within one shot of the 36-hole lead.
The fans knew what they were watching here: they were witnesses to one of the greatest comebacks not just in golf but in all of sport. One of the greatest sportsmen in the world was back. He was really back.
There was a time when a form of redemption was the most anyone could hope for after his fall from grace a decade ago and his subsequent injury woes. But this was more than redemption. This was a resurrection.
It is only two years ago that Woods could barely walk because of back pain, let alone fashion a challenge to win his first Major since he won the US Open in 2008. Even when he had spinal fusion surgery in the spring of 2017, most thought there was no way back.
His career was over: most observers seemed certain of that. Many commentators said openly they wished he would retire. They said his struggles to play on were harming his legacy. Nobody wanted to remember him this way.
