with the violent swing came wear, lower back injury, chronic fracture in his tibia, a left knee that required four surgeries. and as it all grew worse, so too did his frustration. >> tiger! >> reporter: and as his game crumbled, so did his inner circle. he fired his coach in may, 2009, then split from long-time friend and caddie steve williams this past july. suddenly it seemed fair to wonder if he had also lost the ability to do the one thing that made it all possible. sunday's win provides no definitive answer. but if for only one day, clad in signature red of so many championship sundays past, tiger woods seemed a picture of what he once was rather than who he had since come. >> my home was a focus group of three, for the first time in two years we found ourselves toggling between an nfl game in progress and the golf. as christine brennan said of sunday's win, it was a good one for tiger woods but maybe a great one for the game of golf.