With American political pundits speculating on the White House survival of the so-called "Comeback Kid", the Thai exploits of Tiger Woods seem somehow appropriate at this time.
As it happens, Europeans professionals can show their American Brethren a clean set of spikes when it comes to golfing comebacks. Though Woods made up eight strokes during the final round at Phuket yesterday, the feat has been surpassed on two occasions on the European Tour.
The first was at Foxhills in the 1977 Tournament Players' Championship, in which Neil Coles made up 10 strokes on the hapless lefthander, Peter Dawson, who collapsed to a final round of 79.
Then, in the 1992 European Masters at Crans-surSierre, another Englishman, Jamie Spence, made up 10 strokes on no less a player than Colin Montgomerie. Montgomerie led by five strokes with a 54-hole total of 201 - 15-under-par - but slipped to a final round of 71 for third place, while Spence swept past him with a stunning 60.
On the USPGA Tour, however, nobody has bettered a comeback of eight strokes in recent years, though the figure has been equalled three times since 1970. Those efforts were by Mark Lye in the Bank of Boston Classic in 1983; by Hal Sutton in Memphis two years later and by Chip Beck in the Buick Open in 1990.
The most spectacular - albeit unsuccessful - comeback in the history of the Irish Open occurred at Royal Dublin in 1985. Four strokes off the lead with one round to play, Bernhard Langer shot a course-record 63, only to lose a play-off to his great rival, Seve Ballesteros.
As might be expected, margins tend to be tighter in the major championships, though as recently as last July Justin Leonard came from five strokes back of Jesper Parnevik to capture the British Open at Royal Troon. This had not been done since Jim Barnes won the title in 1925.
An even bigger comeback was achieved by Greg Norman at Troon in 1989, but with a far less happy outcome. On that occasion, Norman came from seven strokes back to get into a play-off with Australian compatriot Wayne Grady and Mark Calcavecchia.
For the first time in the history of the event, the tie was settled on the aggregate score over four holes. In the event, the American emerged victorious when Norman reached the "unreachable bunker" on the 18th.
Incidentally, when Harry Vardon won the British Open in 1896, he was 11 strokes behind the leader after 18 holes (Woods was the same margin behind Els after 36 holes in Phuket). And in 1920, George Duncan went on to capture the title having been 13 strokes behind the leader at the halfway stage.
The US Masters has also produced some celebrated comebacks. Statistically, the finest of these was in 1956 when US Ryder Cup player Jackie Burke made up nine strokes on the then-amateur Ken Venturi.
Burke didn't take the lead until the 71st hole, where he had a birdie to Venturi's bogey. Significantly, his aggregate of 289 was the highest winning score in Masters' history.
Gary Player came from seven strokes back of Hubert Green after 54 holes at Augusta to win his third Masters in 1978. Player had a final round of 64 for an aggregate of 277 - a stroke clear of Rod Funseth, Green and Tom Watson.
Then, of course, there was the spectacular Masters comeback by Nick Faldo in 1996 when he, too, captured the title for a third time. Going into the final round, the Englishman, on 209, trailed the runaway leader Norman on 203, with Phil Mickelson in third place on 210.
Images are still vivid of the Shark's crushing collapse in a final round of 78, while Faldo shot a sparkling 67 to win by a most improbable margin of five strokes. There was another notable Faldo comeback in 1990 when he came from seven strokes behind the leader after 18, to beat Raymond Floyd in a play-off for the title.
Pride of place for comebacks in the annals of the US Open goes to Arnold Palmer. The scene was lunch Cherry Hills between the third and final rounds in 1960, when Palmer wondered aloud to some friends: "I might shoot 65 - what would that do?" "Nothing," came the reply. "You're too far back."
Seven strokes adrift, Palmed proceeded to drive the first green for an opening eagle two. And, like Woods did yesterday, he went on to get his 65, which was sufficient to give him the title by a stroke from a promising young amateur by the name of Jack Nicklaus.
Then there were the six strokes that Johnny Miller made up in a course-record final round of 63 to win the title at Oakmont in 1973. Johnny Farrell (1928) and Byron Nelson (1939) made up five-stroke deficits to capture the blue riband of the American game.
Scoring achievements in the USPGA Championship are less clearly defined, as the event changed from matchplay to strokeplay in 1957. But in 1977 at Pebble Beach, Lanny Wadkins came from seven strokes behind after 54 holes to tie Gene Littler before going on to capture the title in sudden-death.
When coming to terms with the scope of his achievement at Augusta two years ago, Faldo remarked: "This was an amazing day." Woods expressed a similar reaction in Phuket. Not surprisingly, comebacks tend to leave their perpetrators at a loss for words.
