Masters favourite Tiger Woods is "extremely" pleased with his preparation for Augusta National having made a vintage final-round charge at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
In his final tournament before returning to the Masters for the first time in three years, Woods gave fans hope of ending an almost five-year winless drought on the US PGA Tour on a dramatic last day Bay Hill.
Woods came within a shot of the lead on Sunday but a three-under-par 69 left him sharing fifth at 10 under, eight shots back of winner Rory McIlroy.
Four-time major winner McIlroy blitzed the elite field with a Sunday 64 and an 18 under total, with Bryson DeChambeau (68) the nearest challenger three shots back.
Coming off a tie for second in his last start at the Valspar Championship, Woods earned consecutive top-five finishes on the US Tour for the first time since 2013.
That was when Woods tied fourth at the Masters before winning the Players Championship.
Having sat on the sidelines for 10 months last year while recovering form spinal fusion surgery, Woods said he didn't anticipate his comeback to be so successful.
"I'm very (pleased); extremely," Woods said of his return, having finished 12th at the Honda Classic and in the top-25 at Torrey Pines earlier this year.
"If you (told) me at the beginning of the year that I would have a chance to win two golf tournaments, I would have taken that in a heart beat."
Last week, four-time Masters winner Woods firmed as outright betting favourite for Augusta for the first time since 2013.
Woods said he would head to Augusta early having not been to the Masters as a competitor since finishing tied for 17th in 2015.
"I'm looking forward to it," Woods said.
"I need to go take a look at it; I haven't putted on bent grass in two years. So this is going to be new to me."
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