Tiger Woods turns to putting drills he did with his dad

"I went back to all of my old stuff that my dad and I used to work on," he said on the eve of his last event before The Masters in a fortnight. "And that's when I felt that my stroke started becoming more sound, more solid, my speed became better.

"It feels natural, because I've done it for so long. I just got away from it and now I'm going back to it. I don't know what that dude saw in my game, but he really knew putting and he knew my stroke. My dad really knew my stroke. I miss him for a lot more reasons than just the putting, but as far as bouncing ideas off of him and what I was feeling and what he would say, I do miss that certainly."

Earl Woods died five years ago and his son reckons he has become a streaky putter virtually ever since. "I would get on runs for two or three tournaments in a row where I would really putt well and then I would just lose it," he added. "It goes back to not practising as much. I took for granted my putting and didn't really spend a lot of time doing it.

"I expected to go out there and putt well every day. I've got to log in the hours, so I went back to doing that and this year I've putted much better." Under new coach Sean Foley the 14-times major champion has also embarked on what he admits are the biggest swing changes of his career. "It's taken a little bit of time, but then again I've showed some good signs of late," said Woods, who charged to 10th in the WGC-Cadillac Championship after a closing 66 in Miami two weeks ago. "That was back to what I know I can do, so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow."

Woods is a six-time winner at Bay Hill, lifting the title twice in a row before missing last year's event, and tournament host Palmer said: "I've obviously been watching his game just like everyone else has. I feel like Tiger has a golf game that can come to the surface any time. I think that's certainly a possibility here. He likes the golf course, so I would just not count him out at all. I think he's capable of winning any time."

The Orlando field includes an on-form Martin Laird, while eight other Scots - Colin Montgomerie, Steven O'Hara, Peter Whiteford, Lloyd Saltman, Paul Lawrie, Stephen Gallacher, Scott Jamieson and George Murray - are in Malaga for the Andalucian Open starting today.

David Drysdale had also been hoping play in an event being promoted by Miguel Angel Jimenez, but he is now targeting a return in Morocco next week, having being advised by physio Stuart Barton not to rush back after damaging a muscle in his ribs during a recent golfing trip to Dornoch.