Tiger Woods is no stranger to comebacks.
Between 2014 and 2017, when an injury-plagued Woods was barely able to compete at the highest level, let alone seriously contend for honours, there were plenty of compelling storylines in golf's major championships.
Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth each won two in succession to suggest a glorious new rivalry was in prospect, while the latter sensationally threw away the Masters in 2016 before producing a remarkable recovery to win the following year's Open. In addition, there were two truly memorable final-day duels, Henrik Stenson edging out Phil Mickelson to win the 2016 Open Championship and Sergio Garcia pipping Justin Rose at Augusta nine months later.
By the time Garcia finally earned major glory at the 74th attempt, it was becoming easy to view Woods' career as a top-level player in the past tense.
Little more than a month later, the former world number one was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Florida, following an unexpected reaction to prescription medicine, and a humiliating mugshot of Woods made headlines around the world.
In light of that embarrassing episode and Woods' continued back problems, it was truly incredible to see a resurgent Tiger threaten to win two majors in 2018 before he then ended a five-year victory drought at the Tour Championship.
Yet it turned out the best was still to come. And there can be no doubt that the events of April 14, 2019 at Augusta comfortably trump all of the aforementioned major narratives. If golf was good in Woods' absence, it got a whole lot better when he returned, and the world will hope he has another comeback in him after Tuesday's car accident in Los Angeles.
In winning the Masters for a fifth time, Woods not only added the most remarkable chapter to his stunning career, but he once again proved he is the one athlete who moves the needle like no other.
While the likes of Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Tom Brady, and LeBron James are all rightly recognised as masters of their respective crafts, none of those superstars can match Woods when it comes to the impact they have on their sport.
When Woods is successful, interest in golf is taken to a whole new level, for one simple reason.
As Williams herself tweeted at the time of his Masters triumph, to watch his success was to witness "greatness like no other".
It is essentially impossible to quantify whether Messi is better than Federer, or whether Serena is superior to James, given they are competing in different fields.
Yet it is hard to envisage any active sportsperson commanding more attention than a successful Woods. More than a decade after his period of outrageous dominance in golf ended, he once again reprised his role as sport's most captivating figure, one who somehow regained a majestic aura after it appeared he was a busted flush.
When he secured victory at the 2019 Masters, it felt like the whole world was watching, and doubtless they are watching now – hoping for another miracle comeback.
Scheffler swinging with confidence at Tour Championship despite seeing lead cut to four
Scottie Scheffler insists his swing is "in a good spot" despite seeing his lead at the top of the Tour Championship standings cut to four shots on the second day.
Scheffler, who is aiming to win his first FedEx Cup title, carded 65 in his opening round and entered the second round with a 10-shot lead.
However, the world number one saw American duo Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele close the gap during a weather-disrupted second round on Friday.
Scheffler carded a round of 66 to take himself to 21 under par, aided by two birdies in the final three holes to keep the chasing back at bay.
"I feel like my swing is in a good spot, and I've hit it nice the last couple of days," he said. "A lot of quality stuff out there, and in a good spot going into the weekend."
Morikawa is four shots off the pace after producing a superb eight-under 63, which was the best round of the day, and has surged up the standings to second place.
In an impressive round, he dropped just one shot on the 11th hole, but made amends on the back nine before closing with back-to-back birdies.
"He's going to continue to make birdies," Morikawa said about the possibility of catching Scheffler. "He's driving it really, really well here, and you're giving yourself enough wedges to make some scoring opportunities out there.
"For me, it's just about bringing energy and just staying alive out there."
Schauffele is in third, one shot behind compatriot Morikawa, after shooting an impressive second-round 64 to remain in the hunt for the $25million prize money.
There is then a four-shot gap until a group of three players, including Adam Scott, are tied for fourth place at 12 under, while Rory McIlroy is tied for 10th place on eight under.
'Still feel like I've got a chance', says McIlroy as Scheffler takes Tour Championship lead
Scottie Scheffler is in prime position to win his first FedEx Cup title after storming into a seven-shot lead at the Tour Championship.
The world number one, who started on 10 under due to the FedEx Cup's staggered structure, carded a superb 65 in the first round of the PGA Tour's season-ending tournament, after recovering from an early bogey at East Lake.
Scheffler's haul included seven birdies, with five of those coming from his last seven holes, as he bids to win a seventh PGA Tour event of the season.
His main FedEx Cup challenger Xander Schauffele is tied for second on nine under par, along with Collin Morikawa, while Rory McIlroy is three shots back in T10.
However, the Northern Irishman has not given up hope of applying pressure to Scheffler as the tournament goes on.
"I'm happy with how I hung in there and had a good finish," McIlroy told Sky Sports.
"When I saw Scottie had gotten to 14, I was like, 'Oh, got to try to just hang on to the coattails a little bit'.
"Still feel like I've got a chance, and it was nice to finish the way I did."
Scheffler, also speaking to Sky Sports, said: "Yeah, I'm pleased with the day.
"I tried not to think about any sort of lead or anything like that, my job was to go out there and execute and I felt like I did a really good job of that. I felt like I was doing some good stuff to start the day.
"I had the bogey on one but after that I felt like I played some really good golf."
Premier League MD2: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
We're into the swing of the new Premier League season, with matchday two bringing plenty more thrills and spills.
Big wins for Chelsea and Manchester City were accompanied by hat-tricks for Noni Madueke and Erling Haaland, while Everton's miserable start to 2024-25 continued as they were thrashed 4-0 at Tottenham.
But who were the lucky winners and the unlucky losers to emerge from this weekend's set of fixtures, according to the underlying metrics?
With the help of Opta data, let's find out.
Lucky winners: Chelsea
While Chelsea's thumping 6-2 win at Wolves was the most emphatic victory of a goal-laden matchday, perhaps fortune smiled on the Blues as they got off the mark under Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea's six goals came from an expected goals (xG) figure of just 1.68, with the Blues giving up chances worth 1.96 xG at the other end.
Madueke was joined on the scoresheet by Nicolas Jackson, Cole Palmer and Joao Felix as Maresca became the first manager in Premier League history to see his team score six goals in his first away game at the helm.
Unlucky losers: Wolves
It might be a tad generous to suggest Wolves were unfortunate after shipping six goals on home soil, four of them coming in a miserable second half as they attempted to chase the game.
However, it is certainly fair to say the scoreline did not tell the full story of a game in which Gary O'Neil's men managed 12 shots to Chelsea's 14 and bettered the Blues' 21 touches in the area, registering 25.
Chelsea's xG overperformance of 4.31 is the largest of the season by some margin, with Brighton and Spurs both outdoing their underlying figures by 1.57 in their victories over Everton.
No team managed a bigger overperformance than that throughout the entirety of last season, either, with Newcastle's eight goals from 3.92 xG versus Sheffield United the closest any team got.
Lucky winners: Arsenal
Chelsea's win at Molineux was one of just two games in the Premier League on matchday two where the victors lost the xG battle.
But on a weekend where justice was largely done, Arsenal could perhaps count themselves fortunate to leave Aston Villa with a 2-0 victory.
The Gunners accumulated just 0.87 xG to Villa's 1.28, but goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey maintained their 100% start to the season.
This is the third time they have won their first two matches of a top-flight campaign without conceding a goal, having previously done so in 1924-25 and 1971-72.
Unlucky losers: Aston Villa
Villa were a lucky winner on matchday one as they escaped the London Stadium with a 2-1 victory over West Ham, but there was to be no repeat against Arsenal.
Unai Emery's team only hit the target with three of their 11 shots, and striker Ollie Watkins was particularly wasteful as he failed to net from two efforts worth 0.87 xG.
That is the second-highest figure registered by a player who failed to score in a Premier League match this season, after Nottingham Forest's Nikola Milenkovic versus Southampton on Saturday (0.98 xG).
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