Tiger Woods at Wyndham Championship 2015: Sunday Leaderboard Score, Reaction

If I told you Tiger Woods would card four birdies on the back nine in Sunday's last round of the Wyndham Championship after starting the afternoon just two strokes off the lead, you'd probably fancy his chances of winning.

Unfortunately, Woods' swing eluded him for a mere two holes in that span—and that was enough to cost him a chance at his first victory since the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. It also marked a bittersweet conclusion to Woods' season.

Woods was done in by a triple bogey at the par-four 11th and a subsequent bogey before birdieing four of his last six holes in an even-par round of 70 at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The Sunday score put Woods at 13 under par, tied for 10th and four strokes shy of surprise champion Davis Love III.

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Par	4	4	3	4	5	4	3	4	4	35
Score	4	4	3	4	5	4	4	4	3	35
To Par	-13	-13	-13	-13	-13	-13	-12	-12	-13	-13
Par	4	4	3	4	4	5	3	4	4	35	70
Score	4	7	4	3	3	4	3	4	3	35	70
To Par	-13	-10	-9	-10	-11	-12	-12	-12	-13	-13	-13

Signs of slippage were lingering all day. Woods tried to hit a cut into the par-three seventh but instead double-crossed it and went well left of the green. The crowd roared as Woods hit a flop shot to relatively close range. He then pulled his par putt to card bogey after registering pars on his first six holes.

An excellent approach to the par-four ninth went inside 10 feet, which Woods converted for birdie to get back to level par for the round at the turn.

Before that putt fell, Golf Channel's Justin Ray highlighted how Woods was already losing steam due to missed opportunities to push his score lower:

No. 11 then truly dashed Woods' hopes of winning. The PGA Tour's official Twitter account showed the short-game blunder that ultimately cost Woods a chance in the end:

Alan Shipnuck of Sports Illustrated analyzed how woes of the past may have surfaced at the most inopportune time for Woods as he tried to hold up in the heat of competition:

The way Woods bounced back from that setback was commendable, though.

Three straight birdies at Nos. 13 through 15 followed his next dropped shot. Woods' second to the par-four last to set up birdie was nothing short of extraordinary—recalling his magic of old:

The pressure was off because he no longer had a shot at the top prize, but one has to admire the competitive resolve Woods displayed when it would have been easy to give in to the doubters who've written him off for the entire season.

Jason Gore, who was denied his first PGA Tour win in a decade in falling one stroke short of Love, described Saturday how even he, as a fellow player, wants to see Woods shine.

"I think it's awesome to see him playing well again, to see him playing like Tiger Woods," said Gore, per ESPN.com, "because that's what we all want to see."

This was the first true taste of contention Woods has had in quite some time, representing a huge stride forward. The downside is the FedEx Cup playoffs are next and Woods won't participate, so he can't use his best finish of the year as a springboard into anything immediate.

Thanks to the wraparound schedule the PGA Tour uses these days, though, a new season is on the horizon sooner than many may realize, per ESPN's Jason Sobel:

The Wyndham Championship didn't vault Woods into the playoffs, but his tie for 10th is his best finish of the 2014-15 campaign. If he can sharpen up his game in the idle competitive weeks to come, there's reason to believe in a legitimate Woods renaissance on the horizon.

Sunday was a reminder of how electrifying a golf tournament can become when Woods is on the prowl in his trademark red shirt coming down the stretch. It also served notice that he still has work to do before he begins to hoist trophies again.