Atlanta - Phil Mickelson led the praise for Tiger Woods after the former world No 1 ended a five-year title-drought with victory at the Tour Championship here on Sunday.
Mickelson, who will face Woods in a lucrative head-to-head shoot-out in Las Vegas in November, said he had never doubted that the 14-time major winner would add to his collection of PGA Tour titles.
"He's played such good golf all year that it is just not surprising," Mickelson said.
"Tiger's played so well on a very difficult golf course and we almost kind of expected it.
"We never doubted he would not win again, not from what I've seen he's been swinging the club and the way he's being playing.
"It was just a matter of time."
The victory lifts Woods tally to 80 PGA Tour titles and just three wins shy of becoming the most successful player in the history of the PGA Tour.
Mickelson meanwhile said he is looking forward to joining up with Woods for this week's Ryder Cup in Versailles, despite a disappointing showing in Atlanta which saw him finish on 13-over par.
"It was not the week here I would have liked heading into any big tournament but next week in France is going to be totally different with different grass, different course and different everything so we'll see," Mickelson said.
"It's going to be a special week and with Patrick (Reed) and I playing together today we were talking about it and it's going to be a fun and exciting week."
Final scores from the season-ending PGA Tour Championship at East Lake on Sunday (USA unless stated):
269 – Tiger Woods 65-68-65-71
271 – Billy Horschel 71-65-69-66
273 – Dustin Johnson 69-70-67-67
274 - Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 72-66-71-65, Webb Simpson 69-70-68-67, Justin Rose (ENG) 66-67-68-73
275 - Rickie Fowler 65-72-73-65, Justin Thomas 67-69-70-69, Xander Schauffele 68-70-68-69, 201 – Rory McIlroy (NIR) 67-68-66-74
276 – Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 69-69-70-68, Gary Woodland 66-72-68-68, Paul Casey (ENG) 68-71-66-71, Jon Rahm (ESP) 68-68-68-72
277 - Aaron Wise 70-69-67-71, Tony Finau 67-71-67-72, Kyle Stanley 69-68-67-73
278 - Jason Day (AUS) 68-73-69-68
279 – Bryson DeChambeau 71-75-66-67
280 - Cameron Smith (AUS) 70-73-69-68
281 - Patrick Cantlay 71-65-76-69, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 70-75-69-67, Marc Leishman (AUS) 73-69-68-71, Patton Kizzire 71-71-68-71
283 - Kevin Na 72-68-72-71
284 – Brooks Koepka 69-78-67- 70, Keegan Bradley 73-73-69-69
289 – Patrick Reed 72-74-72-71
290 - Bubba Watson 70-72-73- 75
293 – Phil Mickelson 73-72-76-72