ORLANDO — Tiger Woods is the No. 1 player in the world again.
But is he back?
After winning his record eighth Arnold Palmer Invitational yesterday, Woods has won six of his last 20 tournaments, dating back to last year’s win at Bay Hill.
He has won three of the four PGA Tour stroke-play tournaments he has played this year, has ripped the top world ranking away from Rory McIlroy and, with 77 career victories, is just six away from breaking Sam Snead’s all-time record of 82.
But, is he really back?
Ask Woods that and he will tell you — with more than a tinge of arrogance — that he never left.
I beg to differ.
Whether he wants to publicly concede to it or not (and he won’t), Woods will not truly be back until he starts winning major championships again. That opportunity comes in three weeks when he plays the Masters, which he has won four times but not once since 2005.
This is to take absolutely nothing away from what Woods did at Bay Hill, storming back from being seven shots out of the lead at one point on Saturday, and never allowing anyone to truly challenge his lead yesterday as he shot a 2-under-par 70 to finish 13-under for the week, two shots clear of runner-up Justin Rose.
But Woods, who has 14 of them, has not won a major championship since June 15, 2008, when he won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. And if you don’t think that weighs heavily on his mind — even as he’s chalking up non-major victories with dominant frequency, you’re kidding yourself.
If you think Woods winning another four tournaments this year with none being a major and considering this a banner year, you don’t know Woods very well.
Woods is playing incredible golf right now. One of the things I’ve seen from Woods in his last two wins (at Doral and Bay Hill) that remind me most of the player I saw winning those 14 majors is his relentlessness.
When he was winning majors, there was little that rattled Woods. His body language always told you he was in complete control, that he owned the place. During his struggles post-scandal, injuries and swing change, when Woods started hitting it sideways and couldn’t sink a key putt, he lost that swagger.
Witnessing Woods win his last two tournaments (his first back-to-back victories since 2009), he has been back to having that look where nothing rattles him.
“I’ll give you an example,’’ Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava told The Post. “We were on the sixth tee on Saturday and there is a scoreboard to the right. Rosey (Justin Rose) was off to a good start; he was 2-under through three and was 13 under. Tiger was playing well and he was 1-under for the day and 6-under for the tournament and seven shots behind.
“Tiger looked up at the board, looked at me and said, ‘It looks like we’ve got some work to do.’ And at the end of the day, 12 holes later, we’ve got a two-shot lead. He went from seven down to two up. It is amazing. He just thinks differently.’’
The one pressure-point moment of yesterday’s final round came when, after Rickie Fowler made a 37-foot birdie putt on No. 12 to temporarily cut Woods’ lead to two shots, Woods topped him by making a 27-foot birdie putt of his own.
LaCava said that moment reminded him of “the Tiger of old,’’ saying, “I remember seeing that when being paired with him and seeing it when I watched him on TV. It seemed like every clutch 20-footer he needed, he made. No. 12 was an example of that. It seems like the 20-footers are going in more consistently again now.’’
If Woods really is the “Tiger of old,’’ he will go to Augusta next month and win his fifth green jacket and 15th major. Then there will no longer be any discussion or debate about whether or not he is back.