He’s baaaack….Tiger Woods is leading the Australian Open after two rounds…

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Or did it?  Tiger Woods is 9 under par and leading the Australian Open after two rounds, which is quite a novel development considering the way he has played for most of the last two (winless) years.   He birdied the  10th, 13th and 14th holes (his first, fourth and fifth), then another at the par four 16th to go four under par on his front nine en route to a 67 that, after an opening round 68, left him two shots clear of his nearest competitor. That might change by the end of the day in Australia where the round is still going on — but odds are he’ll sleep with a lead for the first time in a very long time.

It remains to be seen if Tiger can sustain this level of play through the weekend, but it’s clearly progress arguably good news for golf , which has been getting along just fine, thank you very much, on the strength of a new wave of young players that starts with Rory McIlroy and includes Australian, Jason Day who has been paired with Woods for the first two days and is two shots back.   But no one doubts that if Tiger could seriously get his act together and sustain over four rounds (not to mention next week’s President’s Cup0 …. it would be a good thing for golf.