Tiger Woods: Confidence Will Be Key as Tiger Looks to Recapture Old Dominance

For the first time in a long time, the vibes surrounding Tiger Woods are pretty good. He hasn't been a force on the PGA Tour in over two years, but that could very well change in the near future.

Tiger is making his 2012 PGA debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which tees off on Thursday in Monterey, California. He took some time to talk to reporters on Tuesday, using it as an opportunity to explain how much of a difference being healthy has made on his game.

"I haven't been able to train. I haven't been healthy enough. I'm now training and my body is feeling explosive again. Consequently I'm hitting the ball further," said Tiger, according to CNN.com.

It's been a long road to get to this point. Tiger has been working with swing coach Sean Fole since August of 2010, but their time together has been interrupted by assorted injuries Tiger has dealt with. Most notably, Tiger sat out a couple months in 2011 after injuring his left leg at the Masters in April.

As you'll no doubt recall, Tiger was not himself when he came back. He shot one-over at the Bridgestone Invitational and then missed the cut at the PGA Championship.

Tiger has played significantly better in his last four starts, and that's not an accident. He's healthy and his work with Foley is finally starting to pay off.

This isn't necessarily the first step in Tiger's journey back to being the old Tiger, but it's a big one. As long as he's healthy and driving the ball consistently, he'll feel like the old Tiger.

At least on the outside. When Tiger was at his best, he might have been the most confident man in sports. He had a certain swagger, and you could see it and hear it every time he walked past or opened his mouth to speak.

That special sense of confidence took at a hit in the winter of 2009, and it continued to take hits throughout the course of the next two seasons. Tiger finally seemed to hit rock bottom when he missed the cut at the PGA Championship.

You can tell by watching and listening to him that Tiger is much more at peace with where he is and where he's going, but he seems to realize that he's still in the middle of a process that requires baby steps.

Now that he's gotten his health and swing under control, he needs to compete. Now that he's competing, he needs to win. And so on.

Being at peace with his situation will do for now, but we're talking about a guy who used to be dominant. He was dominant because he was the most skilled player in the field and because he wanted to be dominant.

Rest assured, that Tiger Woods is still in there somewhere. He isn't needed, or perhaps isn't wanted, right now, but he will rise to the top if Tiger gets on a roll. The better he plays, the more confident he will become, and then it's just a matter of time before he wants to dominate again.

The prize remains the same. Tiger is four majors away from tying Jack Nicklaus, and five away from passing him. After all he's been through, all-time greatness is still within reach.

But Tiger has to want it.