Tiger Woods returns to No. 1 with win at Bay Hill

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The moment was vintage Tiger Woods, and so was his reaction. Seconds after Rickie Fowler made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole to pull within two shots of the lead, Woods posed over his 25-foot birdie putt until he swept the putter upward in his left hand and marched toward the cup as it dropped for a birdie.

Fowler, standing on the edge of the green, turned with a slight smile as if to say, "What else can I do?"

Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational Monday and returned to No. 1 in the world for the first time since October 2010, the longest spell of his career. After all that time, after so much turmoil with his personal life and his health, Woods looks as good as ever.

"It's a byproduct of hard work, patience and getting back to winning golf tournaments," Woods said.

He essentially wrapped up his eighth title at Bay Hill with an 8-iron out of a fairway bunker on the par-5 16th that easily cleared the water and landed safely on the green for a two-putt birdie. Woods dangled his tongue out of his mouth as the ball was in the air, another sign of his swagger.

He closed with a 2-under-par 70 for a two-shot win over Justin Rose. Woods has won back-to-back starts for the first time since the Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational in August 2009. "I think it shows that my game is consistent," he said. "It's at a high level."

Woods finished at 13-under 275 and won for the 77th time on the PGA Tour, moving to within five of Sam Snead's record. "If I get healthy, I know I can play this game at a high level," Woods said. "I know I can be where I'm contending in every event, contending in major championships and being consistent day in and day out -- if I got healthy. That was the first step in the process. Once I got there, then my game turned."

A year ago, he came to Bay Hill without having won in more than 21/2 years. He left this year having won six times in his last 20 starts on the PGA Tour.

Next up is the Masters, where Woods will try to end his five-year drought in the majors. "I'm really excited about the rest of this year," Woods said.

Woods fell as low as No. 58 in the world as he coped with the collapse of his marriage, a loss of sponsors and injuries to his left leg. One week after he announced he was dating Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn, Woods returned to the top of golf.

"Number 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!" Vonn tweeted moments after his win. Asked if there was any correlation to winning after going public with his relationship, Woods said, "You're reading way too much into this."

Woods tied the tour record of eight wins in a single tournament. Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open eight times from 1938 to 1965. "I don't really see anybody touching [that mark] for a long time," Palmer said while Woods made his way up the 18th fairway. "I had the opportunity to win a tournament five times, and I knew how difficult that was."