NO GROWL, no roar, just a purr, the one of contentment that usually accompanies a cat with his eye on the cream. Yesterday, Tiger Woods was on the prowl. Just like the good, old days, in fact.

Defying all the mayhem and debris left by the fallout of his wayward life away from the golf course, Woods moved with stealth and purpose. When his day’s work was done, the world’s number one had positioned himself as a chief pursuer of two Englishmen – Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter – in the US Masters at Augusta National.

Firstly, the simple statistics: Woods, playing his first tournament in five months, shot a second round 70 to add to his opening effort of 68. It left him on 138, six under par, and poised for a weekend jump on the two men ahead of him. He couldn’t have planned it any better.

“I feel very good, very comfortable,” said Woods after his round, adding that he had “more control of the golf ball from tee-to-green . . . . and I hit putts right on my lines. That’s something I wasn’t doing (on Thursday).”

For a man who had been living a lie in his personal life for years, and who was forced to go undergo therapy after revelations of his sexual transgressions and infidelities were unearthed, Woods has returned to the golf course with a quite unbelievable capacity to jump straight in at the deep end of major competition.

And, as he contemplated the weekend ahead, Woods made a comparison with himself and the legendary Ben Hogan, who returned to win a US Open after spending months away from the sport after sustaining injuries in a car crash.

“I think we’ve done a pretty good job,” said Woods, of the preparations he underwent with coach Hank Haney. The weekend will provide the real answer to that.