Tipsheet: Golf celebrates Tiger's roar

There was a lot of premature ?Tiger Woods is back? chit-chat in the golf world during the last several months.

Most of that was wishful thinking for the industry. But what happened Sunday at the Memorial, well, now, THAT was hard evidence of the game?s best player returning to the mountaintop.

?That was some good stuff out there,? Woods told reporters. ?I never really missed a shot today.?

Tiger?s chip shot for birdie on No. 16 will stand forever as one of the best shots of his career. Tourney founder Jack Nicklaus couldn?t stop gushing about it.

?Under the circumstances -- the circumstances being Tiger has been struggling -- it was either fish or cut bait,? Nicklaus told reporters. ?He had one place to land the ball. He's playing a shot that if he leaves it short, he's going to leave himself again a very difficult shot. If he hits it long, he's going to probably lose the tournament. He lands the ball exactly where it has to land. Going in the hole was a bonus. But what a shot!

?I don't think under the circumstances I've ever seen a better shot.?

Here is how the pundits responded to Tiger?s spellbinding performance:

Mike Lopresti, USA Today: ?Is he back? He might be. He could be. Suddenly, Tiger Woods looks familiar, at least. And so does golf. The fist pump was back, anyway. The reason to wear red on Sunday was back. The ability to make a breathtaking shot that would shake down the thunder was back. Tiger Woods. Only Tiger Woods could have a day like this; one that would echo down every fairway in his sport, leaving us to wonder what comes next.?

Jay Busbee, Yahoo! Sports: ?Let's get this out of the way first: Despite winning his second event of the year, Tiger Woods is not ?back.? Tiger Woods will never be back to the levels of popularity and skill he reached in the early 2000s. That time is gone, a memory, no closer now than grainy YouTube videos. But the Tiger Woods of 2012 is still, by any objective measure, one of the very best golfers in the world. Indeed, were it not for the fact that he was once the most dominant athlete on the planet, we'd be talking of him in glowing, can-you-believe-this terms. He's now won as many events as any golfer on the PGA Tour this year (two), he ranks near the top in most major statistics and he closed out the Memorial on Sunday afternoon with one of the most masterful closing stretches of the season. Down two strokes with four holes to play, he birdied three of the final four, including a legitimate for-the-ages chip-in on 16 that put him into a tie for the lead.?

Cameron Morfit, GOLF Magazine: ?It may be that, like Bay Hill, Muirfield?s deep reservoir of happy memories transported Woods back in time to the player he once was. He?d won the Memorial four times going into this week, just as he?d won six times at Bay Hill coming into Palmer?s tournament in March, when he won an official Tour event for the first time in more than two years.?

Robert Lusetich, FoxSports.com: ?What?s always been true about Woods is that he gets his confidence from his ball-striking. And he hit it magnificently all week at Muirfield Village, one of the toughest tracks on the Tour. He led the field in greens hit in regulation and it was a measure of his dominance from tee-to-green that he finished only 41st ? of the 71 who made the cut ? in putting.?

Steve Elling, CBSSports.com: ?Woods beat Nicklaus to the 73-win mark by exactly 10 years and two days, and if he plays as well as he did at Muirfield Village this week going forward, he?s going to catch Sam Snead -- who won 82 times to top the PGA Tour victory list -- in a matter of months. No question, tee to green, it was that good.?

ATTENTION RAMS FANS

There was much outrage among local NFL fans when the Jaguars traded up in the NFL Draft to beat the Rams to receiver Justin Blackmon.

But imagine how St. Louis would have responded to Blackmon?s recent aggravated DUI arrest, which featured a .24 blood-alcohol level? Blackmon had an earlier DUI on his record from back in 2010.

Roger Goodell won?t be happy about this. As for Jeff Fisher, he is relieved that this isn't his issue to deal with.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if the Cardinals will ever win another game:

Do you think Tiger is back?

Can Justin Bieber toughen up by working out with Mike Tyson?

Will Kurt Busch ever lighten up?

QUIPS ?R US

Here is what some of America?s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: ?So an 11-year-old girl falls 18 feet onto concrete (she's OK) while on the rock-climbing wall at the new Marlins ballpark. My first thought: Why the hell is there a rock-climbing wall at the new Marlins ballpark!? When did sports franchises become so desperate to attract and amuse fans that the team and game were seen as insufficient? Rule of thumb: The only wall that should be climbed at a ballpark is the outfield wall, by outfielders.?

Gregg Doyel, CBSSports.com: ?This is what we want from our NBA superstars, and this is all we want. We want them to do what Kevin Durant did Saturday night in the fourth quarter of a huge game, when Game 4 of the Western Conference finals was there for taking -- and Durant took it. That's what we want, and that's all we want. If that sounds unrealistic, sorry, but it's not. Kevin Durant is that good. LeBron James is also that good. So are Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki. The list of guys I'd write that about -- This is all we want, for them to dominate -- is small. In fact, that's all of them. I just named the only five guys in the league who deserve that much respect, who can bear that much burden.?

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: ?The Hornets will inaugurate the 2012 NBA Draft by selecting Anthony Davis, a 19-year-old from of the University of Kentucky. A defender first, impossibly mobile and nimble at 6-foot-10, Davis is said to be a contemporary version of Bill Russell. Assuming the Hornets retain the services of restricted free agent Eric Gordon, Davis will be paired with a young and promising shooting guard. Still, this isn?t really a basketball question. It?s an economic one. Davis might be a singular talent. But Bill Russell couldn?t have done what this kid is now being asked to do. Pistol Pete Maravich couldn?t do it. Chris Paul couldn?t do it. Why is it reasonable to expect Anthony Davis can save pro basketball in New Orleans??

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: Did you see where Phil Mickelson withdrew after shooting a 79 in the first round of the Memorial? He he claims he was ?mentally fatigued? after just getting back from a European vacation. Unlike Urban Meyer, it sounds like Phil spent too much time with his family. Hey, Lefty, welcome to the ultimate oxymoron: Family vacation.?

MEGAPHONE

?Haven't you guys figured this out by now? We're built for adversity.?

Celtics guard Keyon Dooling, after Boston pulled even in its series with the Miami Heat 2-2.

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