Whoa… whoa… whoa… is Tiger playing his best golf ever? The very mention of it probably incites John McEnroe-esque howls from golf enthusiasts coast to coast, “You cannot be serious!”

Yes, Tiger’s win Monday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational gave him 77 career Tour victories and moved him to within five wins of all-time leader Sam Snead’s 82 victories. And yes, the win also propelled him to the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time since October 2010.

But we haven’t even reached the Tour’s first major. Talk about drinking the Tiger “Kool-Aid.” He’s only played five events so far in 2013.

And should we just ignore Woods’ legendary 2000 reign (nine wins with three majors)? Brush aside his breathtaking 2006 campaign (eight wins, ripping off seven consecutive, including two more majors)?

When you think of Tiger’s dominating run in the 2000s, you think of Woods bombing it unfairly past everyone else in the field. You think of Woods seemingly making just about every impossible putt when he had to make it. You think of Tiger intimidating other players into basically handing him titles.

And those days are long gone. Everyone else on Tour can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Right?

“I don’t want to become as good as I once was, [no] I don’t,” Woods said this weekend before capturing his record eighth victory at Bay Hill. “I want to become better.”

Uh-oh.

Tiger averaged 298 yards off the tee in 2000. That was good enough for the No. 2 spot on Tour. But in 2013 Woods’ nearly identical 295-yard average only puts him at 24th best.

Woods’ driving accuracy has progressively gone down as well, he hit 71.2 percent of fairways in 2000, 60.7 percent in 2006, 59.8 percent in 2007 and so far only 55.8 percent in 2013.

But he’s hitting more greens, right? Wrong. His greens-in-regulation percentage has also declined from 75.1 percent in 2000, 74.1 percent in 2006, to 71.0 percent in 2007, and 67.0 percent in 2013.

Since Tiger became a professional in 1996, he’s used four different swings. The only swing Woods he hasn’t won a major with is the current one he is working on with Sean Foley, who became Woods’ instructor in August 2010. He’s won only six times in 38 events with this swing, a 16 percent rate that is by far the lowest with any of his swings. That doesn’t sound like someone playing his best golf ever.

But in three decisive areas, Woods has never been better than now.

1. Putting

From 15 to 25 feet, Woods is sinking putts at a ridiculous rate of 28.6 percent in 2013, a career best. And from 5 to 15 feet, Tiger’s dropping it 55.7 percent of the time this year, a stat he only bettered in 2002.

And Woods really went bonkers with the putter at Bay Hill, leading the field with a 1.63 stroke putting average, needing only 110 strokes on the greens. And his 11.2 strokes gained-putting average, which measures the number of putts a golfer takes relative to the Tour average from the initial distance of a putt, was the best performance of his career

2. Par-5 Scoring

Woods is also converting birdie or better on par-5’s at a career best clip of 64.3 percent. That’s nearly 10 points above Tiger’s career average, and a conversion percentage he’s been nowhere near since the 2000 and 2001 seasons.

Like he has done all season, Woods dominated the par-5s at Bay Hill this weekend with nine birdies and three eagles, going 14-under with four of those birdies coming on the final day.

3. Resilient Mentality

Putting success inside 25 feet and scoring on par-5’s will be essential to win at Augusta. But perhaps most crucial to Woods winning his fifth green jacket and first since 2005 is Tiger’s state of mind. All indications are that his greatest competitive advantage is back with a vengeance. And nowhere was it on display more than Saturday at Bay Hill.

Even after bogeying his last three holes in Round 2 to fall four shots behind 36-hole co-leader Justin Rose, Woods surged into the lead in Round 3 with a 6-under 66 that included an eagle at the par-5 No. 16, which gave him three eagles for the week — one less than he had the entire 2012 season.

Recent years have witnessed Woods, for the first time, unable to close two-day and 36-hole leads at major championships. We’ve seen Woods kick clubs after a bad shot, curse in frustration when something didn’t go his way and come unglued as things crumbled around him.

That appears to have changed now.

“I just understand how to fix my game,” Woods said after the win at Bay Hill. “It’s taken me a while. I hit a bad shot here and there, and that’s easy to fix [now]. I know what my fix is going to be and that makes a big difference.”

This is the fourth time in Woods’ career he’s entered the Masters with three wins. In two of those three seasons Tiger went on to win a major. And by Tiger’s own admission, it’s all about the majors. His comeback won’t be complete until he wins that elusive No. 15.