AT&T National 2012: Tiger Woods' Spot Among Leaders Shows He Isn't Close to Done

Tiger Woods will never be the juggernaut that he was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but his place among the leaders at the 2012 AT&T National proves that he is far from done.

After he bombed the final two rounds at the U.S. Open, it appeared as though Tiger was slipping. He certainly has slipped since his time as the most dominant force in all of sports, but his ability to hang around the top of the leaderboard week after week is a testament to his talent.

Long gone are the days of six straight tournament victories and double-digit wins, but Woods is still the center of attention in golf.

I've always been intrigued by the Stanford alum. Even after his infidelity destroyed his public image, I never harbored any ill will towards him. It's easy to put professional athletes on a pedestal and believe they can do no wrong, but the fact of the matter is that they are people just like us—and people make mistakes.

Even after everything he has dealt with off the course and the knee surgery that hindered his performance on it, he is still far from done.

When asked if he could win into his 50s, Woods had this to say, according to Deadspin:

"

Absolutely, 100 percent agree with that. It just has to be on the right golf course. It can't be, at that age - well, by the time I'm at that age, it'll be some golf courses over 8,000 yards. It's probably not going to be at one of those; it's probably going to be at a shorter golf course like you'd find at a British Open.

"

Jack Nicklaus won his last PGA Tour event when he was 46 years old. Winning in his 50s isn't going to be easy for Tiger, but he's done things that normal humans can only dream of.

Woods is already 36 years old. His knees aren't what they used to be and neither are his abilities. After his surgery in 2008, he basically had to start from scratch.

It was easy to tell that his swing wasn't what it used to be when he returned at the U.S. Open that same year. Then we realized something was seriously wrong when he missed the rest of the season because of the balky knee.

He has turned it around this year, though. Thanks to five top-20 finishes, including two victories, Woods finds himself situated at No. 4 on the FedEx Cup standings.

Woods has had some bad tournaments, but golf is a fickle game. His droughts come as a surprise to golf fans because we don't expect him to play poorly. He's not the golfer he was a decade ago, but the fact that he is capable of competing with the best in the game shows us just how good he actually is.

We're never going to see Tiger embarrass the rest of the field like he has done so many times before. The talent gap has closed substantially, but a discrepancy still remains. Nobody on the entire PGA Tour looks as good as Woods does when he is playing to the best of his abilities.

It doesn't matter if Tiger wins the AT&T National. All that matters is that he is in prime position to win in the final round.

Whether you're a fan of Woods or not, he's not going to fade into obscurity at any point in the foreseeable future.