Woods made a fabulous start to the 18-man event in the Bahamas, finishing the first two rounds tied in third.

However, a poor day three, where he shot a three-over-par 75, dropped him down to halfway.

The American bounced back with a strong four-under-par to finish the tournament in ninth place on -8, 10 shots behind the winner Rickie Fowler.

Throughout the tournament Woods showed glimpses of his old all-dominating self, and Gow, who twice made the cut for the US Open in 2000 and 2002, reckons if he can keep fit then he will be a serious challenger of the tournament come April.

“I’d given up on him ever winning another major. Now I’m looking the other way,” Gow told Foxsports.com.au.

“We know what his mental capabilities are and his work ethic and I reckon the one he’ll be shooting for will be the Masters.

“Watch out on that West Coast swing. He is super, super ready for The Masters.

“I had hoped he’d win another golf tournament; now if his body is fine after this week I’m expecting him to win a major.”

Woods had only started three tournaments in the past two years because he had surgery on a back problem.

And Gow never expects him to fully recover to the level he was at when he won 14 majors, but he still thinks he will have enough to overthrow the current top players.

“He won’t get close to peak Tiger but I reckon there’s a massive gap between how good Tiger Woods was and the best players today,” added Gow.

“He can get to a level of Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and Jordan Spieth and the intimidation factor could absolutely grab these guys.

“There’s so much more upside left with him.”