DENVER — Leighton Smith was there in April 2019: Sunday, the back 9 at Augusta National, Tiger Woods outdoing even himself to claim a fifth green jacket at The Masters.

On the course or the couch, who could forget it?

“Literal goosebumps,” Smith says. “That comeback, it felt like you were watching a miracle in slow motion.”

Time for another one.

The 2021 Colorado PGA Teacher of the Year, Smith joined you, me and the rest of the golf world on Tuesday with a huge grin on his face. Woods confirmed what golf fanatics had hoped.

Tiger’s playing.

“I don’t show up to an event unless I think I can win it,” Woods told reporters in Augusta, Ga.

Welp, there goes plans for the weekend.

“I felt like I could still do this,” Woods said. “I don’t know how many more years I can do this.”

Tiger Woods tees off at 8:34 a.m. Mountain in Thursday’s first round. He’s paired with South African Louis Oosthuizen and Joaquin Niemann, a Chilean. In a press conference on Tuesday, Woods reflected on a return to The Masters that appeared impossible after a horrific car wreck on Feb. 23, 2021 — barely more than a year ago. Some news reports characterized his injuries as “career-threatening,” including a shattered ankle and broken bones in each leg. Woods described spending three months in a hospital bed, why he’s wearing Footjoys instead of his traditional Nikes around Augusta National (“stability”) and the physical challenge of walking and playing the dramatic hills of Augusta during his ongoing rehabilitation.

“The only flat spots here are the 18 tee boxes,” Woods said.

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What to watch for? That’s where Smith comes in. The Colorado Springs native and UCCS grad got his formal start in the business working the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in South Carolina. Haney, of course, was Woods’s swing coach back in the day.

“The stories are incredible, as you’d imagine,” Smith says. “Tiger’s warming up, and here’s his swing coach terrified to stay anything. He’s in the zone. Doesn’t look up, doesn’t miss a shot, in his own world. He’s completely disconnected from anything going on outside the next shot.”

Smith recently opened the awesome “Tribe Golf,” an indoor golf lounge in Colorado Springs. Swing by for a private lesson, group workshop, or just to hang out with like-minded golf addicts. I can’t recommend it enough.

Smith also has insight from having attended The Masters when Woods is playing and when Woods is not playing: “Seeing how (Woods) operates definitely shapes how I coach,” he says.

Here are a few of Smith’s takeaways from the Tiger experience:

-Everything from his warm-up routine to how he saunters up to a putt (“Slowly, calmly, always,” Smith says) is intentional. Woods’ swing has changed. Same with his distances. One thing hasn’t changed much: His pre-shot “routine is basically the same,” Smith says. “That consistency comes from his dad (the late Earl Woods) trying to distract him in his backswing.”

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-Woods’s time on the driving range is a process of “taking inventory” of which shots he can hit, Smith says. Maybe he’s hitting a big draw, then challenges himself to cut a slight fade. Maybe he flops a wedge, then knocks one down. Each warm-up shot is assigned a mission.

“Tiger’s the king of controlling ball flight,” Smith says. “The difference in the average Joe on the driving range and someone like Tiger is, ‘What inventory do I have?’ And he has every shot. That’s where his dominance stems from.”

-Finally, the Tiger factor is real. “The GOAT factor,” Smith calls it. If he gets to Sunday with a legitimate chance at a sixth jacket, rivals will take notice: “You can feel it on the course.”

Tune in. Tiger’s playing.