Tiger Woods: Decent Performance on Day 2 at Memorial Doesn't Mean He's Back

We all remember what happened the last time Tiger Woods looked decent and we all got ahead of ourselves. 

After he destroyed the competition at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in late March, earning his first PGA Tour win in over two years, we began talking about a potential Masters win—and then, at Augusta, he crumbled, finishing 40th after being dubbed the favorite to win. 

Now, almost two months later and after a decent first-round performance at the Memorial, Woods finds himself atop of the leaderboard in the midst of the second round, and the frenzy is beginning again. 

This year's Memorial has been weird thus far. Phil Mickelson withdrew after 18 holes, citing mental exhaustion, and Rory McIlroy somehow quadruple-bogeyed the 12th hole on Day 1. And now, this: Tiger Woods, another resurgence. 

But let's not make the same mistake we made last time and get ahead of ourselves. 

Woods encountered some speed bumps in the first round on Thursday—a double-bogey on the 18th, for instance—but he came back strong with two birdies in his final nine holes to finish out Day 1 with a two-under 72. 

On Day 2, he has looked even better, leading off the afternoon with a birdie and tallying two more to stand strong at five-under through eight, which puts him in a first-place tie. 

In his last three disappointing outings, Woods has looked awful from the outset and has found himself buried in the middle of the leaderboard very early on. This, therefore, is a very positive sign. He came out strong on Day 1 and he's continuing that momentum, and he's in as good a position on Day 2 as he's been in since the Arnold Palmer. 

At the Masters, the Wells Fargo and The Players Championship, Woods finished no better than 40th place. It's obvious, then, why many people are excited about this development at the Memorial. So forget it, let's get ahead of ourselves for a moment. If Tiger manages to pull off a win when all is said and done at the Memorial, we all know what's going to happen with the U.S. Open coming up. Fans and pundits alike are going to speculate about his chances of making his big, much-anticipated, official comeback at Olympic Club in a couple of weeks. 

Is it a good sign that Woods finally seems to be getting his act together before one of the biggest events on the golf calendar? Absolutely, and there are still a lot of people who would love to see him win the U.S. Open for the first time since 2008, when he was still the golden boy of professional sports. 

But it might just be too early to expect it. Even if he does pull through this weekend, one win at the Memorial does not a U.S. Open champion make.