Tiger Woods’ preparation for the U.S. Open begins this week

Tiger Woods readily concedes that “Father Time is undefeated,” but the winner of 14 major championships, with back-to-back PGA Tour events on tap ahead of the U.S. Open, is on a quest to turn back the hands of the clock for as long as the injury-plagued 42-year-old can sustain his impressive recent comeback.

To that end, Woods, after finishing T32 at the Masters last month, returns this week from a mini-break with a scheduled start at the first of two straight tuneups for what could be the three-time U.S. Open victor’s final national championship (more on that later).

Woods will kick off the next leg of his duel with that bearded, white-robed old Father Time with his first start since 2012 at the Wells Fargo Championship, an event he won in 2007 but on a Quail Hollow track where he missed the cut in his last two appearances (2010 and 2012).

From North Carolina, Woods will be wheels up for The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Though Woods owns two “fifth major” titles (2001, 2013), his obvious aim in adding Charlotte and Ponte Vedra to his 2018 calendar is to prepare for an official grand slam event, the U.S. Open, where a primary story line will center around the 10th anniversary of Woods’ most recent major triumph.

“I’m excited to get back out there,” said the former world No. 1, who started the year ranked 656th and entered the week at No. 91 after three top-12 finishes on the Florida swing, in a statement on his website. “I took some time off and worked hard in the gym. I’ve made good progress and want to keep moving forward.”

Woods, who last started at The Players in 2015, returned from spinal fusion surgery — his fourth back operation in four years — to competition in December at the Hero World Challenge. Though he missed the cut at the Genesis Open in February, he displayed sparks of the Woods of yore with a T12 close at the Honda Classic, a tie for second at the Valspar Championship, and a share of fifth place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Woods had already committed to play in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

It’s no secret that Woods has always constructed his schedule so that his game is at its peak for the four majors. And while Woods 4.0 is a shadow of his formerly dominant and intimidating 79-time tour winner self, he laid out this season’s timetable with the same goal in mind.

“I thoroughly missed playing in major championships,” Woods said on his website after finishing the Masters a self-described “disappointing” 16 strokes off Patrick Reed’s winning score. “Normally, I build my schedule around them. I struggled with my irons and didn’t put it together when I needed to the entire week.”

When Woods got off to a far better start to his most recent comeback than most observers imagined possible, so soon after back pain kept him from even getting out of bed and led to his arrest for DUI with a cocktail of painkillers in his system, many Woods watchers and oddsmakers pronounced him not only “back,” but a favorite to win a fifth green jacket.

It’s no longer 2000-2001, however; 17 years removed from the glory days of the Tiger Slam, the oft-sidelined Big Cat still drives the Tiger Hype Train, attracts huge galleries, and puts fannies in the seats at home, but he knows he’s made the turn and heading, sooner rather than later, for the 19th hole.

“We’re at the tail end of our careers, we both know that,” Woods said of himself and long-time rival and new best buddy, Phil Mickelson, with whom he played an Augusta practice round unlike any other two days before the Masters.

“He’s 47 and I’m 42. We’ve had a great 20-year battle and hopefully we’ll have a few more but we understand where we are in the game now versus where we were in our early 20s, battling for who was going to be No. 1,” said Woods. “That was then and this is now.”

Until the time comes for him to hang up his spikes, though, Woods, who’s often compared to Tom Brady (who’ll be 41 when the next NFL season begins, while his web-based “Tom vs. Time” docu-series offered a glimpse into the training regimen that keeps him on the field when others his age long ago called it quits), will be out on the fairways slamming 300-plus-yard drives and trying to compete with the youngsters who grew up idolizing him.

From one GOAT to another, golf’s greatest ever (to many observers) may even be taking a page out of the TB12 longevity playbook of exercise, diet, and pliability.

“More swimming, more stretching, very Tom Brady-like, it sounds like [Woods wants] to extend his career the way Brady’s extended his career, in many ways the smart way to train,” Golf Channel’s Tim Rosaforte said recently, following Woods’ admission ahead of the Masters that he had altered his workout routine to include “non-weighted activities” like swimming. “To those of us who were second-guessers, obviously a lot of the injury issues he’s had over the course of time were not only generated by swinging a club 126 miles an hour but were done by doing heavy weightlifting and training and squats and doing the type of stuff that can quite honestly fry your back the way he described it.”

A 1999 Ryder Cup hero agreed.

“For Tiger Woods to talk about doing some non-weight-bearing activities, it’s really good for his golf game,” Justin Leonard, who drained The Putt Heard ‘Round The World at Brookline to sew up the U.S. victory, told Rosaforte. “I think we could all use a little bit more of that. Certainly at the age of 42 years old with back fusion it’s serving him well with the club speed that he’s gained.”

For sure, his next two contests ought to tell us something about how Woods will perform heading into America’s national championship. In Charlotte, he’ll be going up against heavy hitters that include Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day, while The Players annually features one of the strongest fields of the year.

Speaking of marquee talent, Woods will face a stacked lineup in his quest to extend his eligibility for the U.S. Open. Thanks to his victory in the tournament at Torrey Pines in 2008 — his most recent major W — Woods is exempt through this year’s event unless he manages to prevail come June 17 in Southampton, N.Y.

There are other ways for Woods to maintain his exempt status, including winning The Players, British Open, or PGA Championship, or earning enough FedEx Cup points or rising even higher in the world rankings. No one expects Woods to suffer the indignity of sectional qualifying; before that happened, the USGA would most certainly offer him a special exemption to the 2019 tournament at Pebble Beach.

Thus is the life of an aging superstar fighting to keep up with the kids and stave off the inevitable for just a while longer.