Tiger Woods began yesterday flirting with failure but finished it by reaffirming his greatness, moving within sight of an unprecedented third consecutive US Masters title with a magical third round charge.
Fittingly, an historic achievement will now require an historic effort after Woods began his day by fighting back from the brink of elimination.
The world number one had to drain a nerve-rattling four-foot putt with his final shot of the second round to avoid missing the cut at a major for the first time in his professional career.
"You just go out there and putt," Woods told reporters after firing a six-under-par 66 to move to within four shots of Jeff Maggert's third-round lead. "I knew that was the cut.
"I said, 'to hell with it, just make it'. The putt was inside left, I just stayed steady and released the blade.
"You look at it like the fact that you're still in the ballgame. At the time I was only seven shots out of second place, so that's not much out here on this golf course.
"Anything can happen. You knew if you were going to go out there and post a good number you were going to get right back in it."