Tiger Woods Video: Watch Tiger's Epic Shot to End 2nd Round at Open Championship

What a way to enter the weekend at a major.

Tiger Woods had been steadily moving along the first 35 holes at the British Open at Royal Lytham, but his final shot of the day on Friday may be the momentum boost he needed to have quite the memorable weekend.

After splitting the fairway with a superb iron shot on his first stroke, he found himself in a sand trap after a less-than-stellar second shot from 163 yards away.

The notoriously tough bunkers at Royal Lytham are steep, but luckily for Woods he landed on the upslope with enough room to strike the ball over the wall and onto the green. Nabbing a par didn’t seem out of the question, but a bogey seemed to be the more likely outcome.

Or so we thought.

Instead, Woods chipped the shot with the perfect amount of force. A hop, skip and a jump later, the ball landed into the cup.

Birdie.

The crowd erupted, and Tiger unleashed his famous fist pump, fully knowing the ramifications of what he had just done.

Instead of hitting a mediocre shot that would have likely resulted in a bogey, which would have placed him off the lead by six strokes, he is only four back and entering the clubhouse in sole possession of third place (-6) after consecutive days of shooting 67.

I’m not going to say one stroke will determine the outcome of 72 holes of golf, but there is no question his shot on 18 can potentially be a springboard for a fantastic final two rounds of golf.

Woods hasn’t won a major since 2008 because he lost his confidence in big moments. Drilling pressure-packed shots like that suggest he finally has cleared the mental hurdle and is ready to retake the spotlight as the world’s best golfer.

It’s only one shot, but there is no question Woods is as close to winning a major as he’s been in quite some time…especially if he keeps draining shots like the one on No. 18.

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