Endangered hope.

Tiger Woods had a rather slow start on Thursday, but roared back on Friday shooting 66 to get back into contention.  With leader Rory McIlroy having sputtering a little on Saturday, Tiger couldn't quite close the gap; despite multiple chances to do so.

The good news is that he's not completely out of the race for another green jacket; he currently sits 7 strokes behind McIlroy.  The bad news is that Tiger has never come from behind to win a tournament.  For him to make history (Tigerwise at least), he would have to get into "Tigermode" and recapture Friday's form, and hope that McIlroy and the rest of the guys ahead of him slip up.

There was once a time when Tiger Woods walked into a tournament, everyone else was left playing for second best.  Sometimes, he might not even win, but by season's end, he had earned more than everyone else on the circuit courtesy of a high finish.  This led to debates as to whether his dominance was bad for the game, and many courses began adding yardage to their tees; a practice that has since come to be known as "Tiger Proofing".

The 2009 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was Wood's last tournament win on American soil.  In the PGA championship later in the year, Woods lost to Y.E. Yang; marking the first time that Woods lost a tournament in which he held a lead going into the final round.  This was also the first time that Woods finished the season without a Major win, since 2004.

Tiger's epic celebration at the 18th hole in the 2008 U.S. Open

For Woods last Major, we'd have to go back to the 2008 U.S. Open when he came from behind to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate, then proceeded to win thereafter.  What made this tournament more remarkable was that Tiger was playing on a bum knee, and who could forget that celebration when he sank the putt at the 18th hole?

The mud hit the fan when his marriage infidelities came to light; and he's beeng to slowly but surely working to not only rehabilitate his image, but his game as well.  His game has been completely off and he looks more like a shell of his former self.

Even through his struggles, he was still ranked as the World's #1 golfer, until last October when he was passed by Lee Westwood.  Last I checked, he was ranked #3.  A lot of the pundits still believe that he's got some gas in the tank.  Tiger Woods, struggling or not, remains the major draw.

There's still one round left for Tiger to make a run.  Safe bet of course might be to put your money on the hot shooting McIlroy to close the deal.  Even if Tiger doesn't win today, there's still a few 3 Majors left in the calendar; however, today's final round might just be a preview of what's to come later on.