That was the message from golf pundit Jay Townsend today as the second round of the Championship got underway here in Lancashire.
Former European Tour star Townsend watched Woods card a three-under-par 67 – he trails leader Adam Scott of Australia by three shots – and was greatly impressed with the world No.4.
He believes the 36-year-old's game is in perfect shape for him to prove his doubters wrong and lift the Claret Jug for the fourth time on Sunday.
And the American will be interested to see if Tiger's fellow competitors crack under the pressure of going head-to-head with the golf great in the days ahead.
"Tiger is striking the ball very well," the Radio Five Live commentator said. "He only missed one fairway all day in his first round. As far as I can see, he is back to his best.
"He is putting the ball in very good position on the greens. He is giving himself the putts he wants to have. He hasn't holed many putts yet, but I don't see any problems in that department.
"The ball just isn't going in. You can see when somebody is putting well and not making them and when somebody is putting poorly and missing. He is putting well."
Townsend continued: "I think Tiger is feeling pretty comfortable. I think he is looking at this tournament as a four-round championship. He has a game plan that is attritional.
"He knows what he is doing. He is just going to wait for the other players on the leaderboard to fall away as the championship goes on. He isn't going to do anything funny."
Woods won the last of his 14 Major titles in the US Open in 2008 when he pipped Rocco Mediate in the 19th hole of a play-off at Torrey Pines.
Since then, he has struggled with injuries and experienced well-publicised personal problems which resulted in the break-up of his marriage.
Many golf fans feel the Californian is no longer capable of equalling Jack Nicklaus's record haul of 18 Majors and may, in fact, be unable to even land another Major.
However, Townsend believes his countryman has been the form player on the planet this season and is more than capable of winning big once again.
He added: "Tiger Woods will be there or there-abouts come Sunday evening. Absolutely he will. Remember, he has accrued more world ranking points than anybody else this season. He is fourth in the world just now, but, obviously, he had a long climb to get to there.
"He has won three tournaments and all of them have been against good, quality fields, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, at the Memorial Tournament and in the AT&T National.
"His wins have been convincing, on good golf courses and against good fields. I think he is up against the same thing this week. He is well prepared for The Open."
The hugely demanding 7,086 yard links course in the north of England punishes players severely whenever they stray offline.
And Townsend suspects Woods has adopted the same strategy this week as he did at Hoylake in 2006, when he famously sacrificed distance for accuracy, to combat that.
He left his driver in the bag at Royal Liverpool and played a succession of sweet irons off the tee as he strolled to a remarkable two-shot triumph over his compatriot Chris Di Marco.
Townsend explained: "Tiger is driving the ball very well this season. Until recently, he was leading the US PGA Tour driving stats, a combination of driving distance and driving accuracy.
"He has driven the ball very well this year. It bodes well for him. But he doesn't feel he has to hit driver here. His plan is just to hit the ball in the fairway and give himself a shot to the green.
"It won't necessarily be a short second shot, but it will put him on the green. That is all he is worried about, hitting as many greens as possible. He is doing that.
"It looked to me like a very similar game plan to Hoylake. He said in his pre-tournament media conference that it wasn't going to approach the tournament that way. But it looks to me like he is. It certainly worked six years ago and it can work for him again here."
