Timing is everything.

But it's not always a good thing. As the clocks went forward and the temperatures rocketed over the weekend, the Scottish male decided that the time was right to unleash peely wally flesh on an unsuspecting public. Thus, the tranquillity of the nation's parks was shattered by the din of horrified gasps as heaving brutes, with bellies hanging down in pleats and possessing all the athleticism of a manatee at low tide, waddled freely. It made you pine for the dark days of winter.

On Sunday night in America, Tiger Woods got his timing spot on as he eased to his first official PGA Tour win in two-and-a-bit years at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida. It was just like the dominant Sundays of old. Today, the eagerly anticipated book of revelations, The Big Miss, by his former coach, Hank Haney, is published. Bay Hill was Woods' Big Opportunity to launch a pre-emptive strike and he seized his chance to deliver an early blow in the war of words with his erstwhile swing guru. The clubs did all the talking at the weekend as he fashioned a five-shot victory to end 862 winless days (he did plunder his own Chevron Challenge in December but that was a limited-field jolly.)

His last win on the US circuit was the BMW Championship in September 2009. His last win on the global stage was at the Australian Masters in November of that year, just 12 days before his career unravelled in scandal. But that is in the past now.

The Palmer performance was one of total authority and the most telling sign yet that, just maybe, the 14-time major winner is truly back. That famous red shirt had looked decidedly washed out over the past few months but it now has renewed lustre. He didn't miss a fairway until the ninth hole on Sunday and ended up top of the driving stats. He was also imperious with the putter – apart from an early three-putt bogey – and denied any of his rivals a sniff as he turned the final day into a triumphant procession. Having led with 18 holes to play, this was the 53rd time that Woods had converted a third-round lead into victory out of 62 attempts.

"Pure joy" was his reaction to a seventh Bay Hill success and there's not been much of that over the last two years as lurid tales, injuries, divorce and an unsavoury split from his long-time caddie, Steve Williams, left the Woods empire in tatters. Winning can cure a lot of ills, however, and the 36-year-old certainly appeared to be in rude health.

He may have been savaged and scrutinised in equal measure, and increasingly viewed as just another contender as a new world order took hold of the game, but Woods, who has remodelled his swing under the tutelage of Canadian coach Sean Foley, always maintained that the good times would return.

"He was a man on a mission; he was out to prove himself," said his caddie, Joe LaCava. Mission accomplished then. Graeme McDowell, the eventual runner-up whose challenge faltered with a double-bogey at the first hole, was left in no doubt about the Woods comeback. "It was great to have a front-row seat to watch perhaps the greatest of all time doing what he does best: winning golf tournaments," admitted the Northern Irishman.

He may be back but there's always a but. The ravages visited on one of his legs, which flared up again recently when he withdrew from the final round of the WGC Cadillac event with a "mild strain" of the Achilles, will still provide a source of lingering doubt about his fitness. And we have to remember that the Arnold Palmer field was missing Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer; the top four in the world rankings.

The real test will arrive at the Masters next week. Nevertheless, Woods buried a lot of demons at Bay Hill and has upped the ante considerably ahead of the first major of the campaign.

There had been 72 different winners on the PGA Tour since Woods last won. Sunday's triumph was his 72nd on the circuit and, in the bigger picture, perhaps his most crucial. Palmer himself presented Woods with a blazer at the prize- giving. Now, the former world No.1 has his sights fixed firmly on a certain Green Jacket.

The aforementioned strain to Tiger's Achilles recently made global news. At the same time, the popular Australian golfer, Jarrod Lyle, was being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia for the second time and just days before the birth of his first child, Lusi.

He beat the disease as a teenager and had his first bout of chemotherapy at the weekend. "I fed her [Lusi] for the first time and am trying to reacquaint myself as her father," said the 30-year-old PGA Tour player. "I'm going to fight my absolute hardest to be there for all of life's little moments. That's where I'm getting my strength and that helps me know I can beat this."

Lyle's new battle certainly puts a "mild strain" into perspective.