Tiger Woods, and his sport, get their groove back

The sound built and boomed and echoed across the famed Pebble Beach golf links like a 747 on takeoff. Nobody needed to ask. Tiger Woods was back.

At about 6 p.m., a U.S. Open that had chugged along in the shadow of the Lakers’ title aftermath and lousy World Cup soccer referees got its mojo back. You could sense TV sets clicking on all over the country. Make that the world.

Somebody up there truly loves NBC. It went from Sunday with Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell, both nice players to be sure, to a ratings bonanza.

Tiger still drives the bus in golf. He is a flawed superstar, but the nature of the American sports fan is to forgive the flaws in the face of great performance.

And oh, my. What a great performance it was.

Trailing by nine shots early in his round, Woods stormed back to a five-under-par 66, equaling the best round of the tournament on a course designed to seek and destroy. All week, he has preached patience as speculation grew that in the aftermath of his self-proclaimed shameful behavior and marriage blowup, he was done, distracted, cooked, toast as a dominant golfer. Then, in one nine-hole stretch reminiscent of the Saturday back nine at Torrey Pines in 2008, en route to his most recent U.S. Open title, he got the doubters back and believing.

“It’s a process,” he said. “You have to build. I started to feel that what I’ve been working on was building. I was hitting the ball on my numbers. Something good had to happen.”

On the 16th hole, a birdie putt dropped in. Woods pumped his fist with the kind of enthusiasm that had been missing all week. He clearly felt it.

On the 17th, the 208-yard par three, always into the wind, always with impossible pin placements, always with the majority of second shots consisting of little chunk chips from the surrounding deep grass, Woods rolled in a birdie putt by curving it 10 feet, right to left, downhill.

Even superstars make that putt once in 20 tries.

“I just wanted to get it close, to be able to walk up and tap it in,” Woods said. “I had no thought of making it. I just didn’t want to blow the round there.”

That took him to the par-five 18th, which curves around the ocean and can be dangerous off the tee. Woods was well aware of that, remembering earlier in the week that he had once “hit it to Japan” there.

Not this time.

He cranked a drive near a giant tree on the right, looked at his angle and realized he had a low cut-shot three-wood possibility that could actually get him to eagle-putt territory if struck correctly.

“I wanted Stevie [caddie Steve Williams] to give me a good number,” Woods said. “And when he said 260, it was perfect.”

So was the shot, which stayed under the tree branches before rising and turning right toward the green. When it tracked pin-high and stopped 20 feet away, the magic had returned. Even after he missed the eagle and tapped in for birdie, there was no question.

On television, Johnny Miller, certainly qualified to say so, said of Woods’ shot from beneath and around the tree, “That takes a lot of guts to try, and more to pull off.”

We have seen this before. So many times. Woods may not win, but he probably will. The 110th U.S. Open golf tournament now belongs to Tiger.

While Woods’ charge was taking place, Friday’s hero, Phil Mickelson, was dumping balls into traps and rough and having to attempt shots right-handed. McDowell was playing match play with Johnson, both grinding to keep their edge while all attention turned to Tiger.

As Woods got close to the 18th green, the applause soared and he doffed his cap. For a moment, his eyes welled a bit and he mouthed the words, “Thank You.”

He is playing with the knowledge that many of the fans who loved him unconditionally now dislike him similarly. He established the ground rules for the week on the subject of his marital mess by snapping Tuesday at a questioner who asked what his marriage progress was with wife Elin. Until Saturday, his body language had demonstrated no joy for life and little for golf.

But then, some shots got close and some putts fell in and the smile returned and the swagger was back and golf’s planets were in alignment. Once again, heading into the final round of a major, the show was Tiger and some other guys.

People may not forgive him for what he did, but come Sunday, they sure will watch.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com.