Tiger Woods becoming so small has made him even bigger.

Have you ever seen anything quite like what happened Sunday at the East Lake Club in Atlanta? Tiger Woods was completing what some were calling the greatest comeback in the history of sports.

I’m not sure I would go quite far until Woods wins his 14th major championship, but for a guy who couldn’t walk, sit or stand without pain and underwent spinal fusion and several other surgeries, his return to the top of the golf rankings is pretty amazing.

But had Tiger stayed healthy and out of trouble in his personal life, and was caught by the younger guns of today’s game, would Sunday have happened? Would the thousands in the gallery throng been cheering him like it was a soccer match in Europe? Would the fans have chanted “USA! USA!” as a prelude to this week’s Ryder Cup in Paris had Woods’ return not meant he was going to lead the Americans to victory?

Tiger’s rise is as much about his fall as anything else. Sports fans are suckers for a good story, and Woods has given us a great one. Returning to the tour was one thing, but challenging in two majors and then having a lucky bounce on Justin Rose’s second shot on the 72nd hole keep him from winning both his first tournament in five years AND the $10 million FedEx championship is more than even the most devout Tiger fans could imagine.

And I wondered whether that old psychological magic was back, as well, and that it was no coincidence that the other biggest names in golf wilted on the back nine as the roars grew louder for Woods. In his heyday, Tiger’s perennial favorite role left everyone else feel like they were playing for second. That seemed to be the case again Sunday, until Rose’s shot hit the top of the bunker and somehow jumped forward onto the green.

Tiger’s comeback isn’t merely a rally on the weekend, or even a return from a stretch of bad golf. It is a revival of the game itself to a level we didn’t think we needed with the emergence of McIlroy, Spieth, Koepka and the other studs half his age. It’s a return of laser irons into the greens, a short game better than ever and a putter almost too hot to handle.

Tiger is back and in a way we never thought possible.

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