On Sunday, the Bellerive Country Club was left in awe.

The sight of Brooks Koepka gaining his third major honour was impressive, but for many it was the returning performance of four-time PGA champion Tiger Woods that caught the eye.

Woods has already achieved a joint-sixth placed finish at the Open in 2018 and came agonisingly-close to a first major of the year in Missouri, eventually finishing just two shots behind Koepka.

The result marked Tiger's best performance at any major for nine years, and he achieved his best ever final round of 64.

Tiger's comeback has been marked by a rise to 26th in the world rankings, compared to 1,199th last year.

The 14-time major champion had been hit by a recurring set of back problems that have disrupted his career for the last four years.

Woods' decline was marked by a forced withdrawal from the Masters back in 2014, for the first time in 20 years.

During his absence from the sport, Woods was arrested on a drink-driving charge in May 2017 in his native state of Florida, a development that many saw as harmful to his hopes of a return.

And, it was at the Masters champions dinner the same year that Nick Faldo heard Woods talking of the end of his career for good.

"I know he whispered to another Masters champion two Masters dinners ago, 'I'm done. I won't play golf again.' And here we are 18 months later." Faldo has revealed.

While Faldo didn't reveal who Woods had been talking to, he praised the American for his recovery, describing just how tough his injury was.

"He was in agony, he was in pain, the pain down his legs."

Tiger's decision to pursue a full-time return to the game has certainly been met by a rich vain of form, with an elusive 15th major now a realistic possibility.

There is also widespread talk that Woods could make the US Ryder Cup team for next month's tournament - a feat that unimaginable at least year's Masters.