Tiger – There’s some cautious optimism around Tiger Woods going into the British Open.

His old swing coach Hank Haney, who has been critical of Tiger and even wrote a tell-all book about their relationship, said on Twitter that he has a “real shot to win.” Tiger himself has sounded relatively confident in interviews.

“I feel good. Sunday at Greenbrier is probably the best I hit it in two years. That was fun,” he told ESPN, adding, “I feel like everything’s coming around.”

I’m a big time Tiger Woods fan. The guy single handedly resurrected golf, and for a solid decade was the best golfer in the world. He’s won tournaments and majors were it seemed like he was the only guy on the course, and love him or hate him, golf is exponentially more interesting when Tiger Woods is involved. Golf purists and some casual fans will always hate Tiger. He swears on the course, he’s cocky and he has his well documented personal demons, but I can’t help but root for the guy. Analysts will say he’s not the Tiger of old, but I don’t see that as a slight. The Tiger of old was arguably the greatest golfer ever. He’ll never be that guy again, but that doesn’t mean he can’t win a couple more majors, throw a couple more fist pumps, and bring out the red shirt a couple more times on Sunday to scare the living shit out of everyone else on the golf course. Plus, he’s playing some of his best golf in years:

Tiger Woods’ proximity to the hole last week was 23’11” – the BEST in his @PGATOUR career since they’ve been keeping track (2003).

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) July 6, 2015

Tiger Woods rounds in 60s this season Entering week – 2 This week – 3

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) July 5, 2015

Tiger Woods finishes week -7, best score to par for event since 2013 BMW Championship, 659 days ago.

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) July 5, 2015

Tiger Woods’ 66 today is his best score in competition in 482 days.

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) July 2, 2015

Now St. Andrews is a different kind of monster, but you can’t deny that Tiger has been shooting a lot of negative numbers recently. His swing looks better, and more importantly, he’s starting to look more relaxed out there. When Tiger was at his peak, he was never one of those happy go lucky golfers, but this is a different Tiger. He knows he can’t be as dominant as he once was, and he seems at peace with that. At worst, I hope he’s competitive, because as I said before, golf is just more fun when he’s involved on the weekend. At best, he could drudge up some of that old British Open magic and shock the world. Either way, I’ll be watching.

– Ryan