Renewed inspiration has a healthy Tiger on right track

Tiger Woods was sizing up a five-foot par putt in the Bahamas two weeks ago when a small woman in a beige sun hat leaned in for a closer look.

She had followed Woods countless times, but she remained interested in the 40-year-old’s every step.

As soon as Woods struck the ball, she broke the silence.

“In,” Tida Woods, Tiger’s mother, said before the ball dropped into the hole. She turned away and disappeared back into the Bahamian gallery.

All throughout the week at the Hero World Challenge, there were echoes of a time gone by. The greatest player of his generation, raised from the crib to be a champion, broke a 466-day leave of absence with his most emphatic flourishes since he was the game’s…