Tiger Woods has clawed himself back on top of the pro golf tour after a nasty scandal involving nightclub waitresses, lingerie models and his wife swinging a 9-iron near his head. But the whole golf world is watching to see if he can capture another Grand Slam, thus confirming his sponsor Nike’s new TV ad: “Winning Takes Care of Everything.”

The New York Times Magazine has a cover story about disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s plunge back into public life after a marital and political catastrophe. In South Carolina, former Gov. Mark Sanford is making a political comeback.

Bill Clinton once declared himself the “Comeback Kid.” John McCain jump-started a moribund campaign in 2008. And the 2004 Boston Red Sox surmounted nearly impossible odds to win the World Series.

Comeback stories, all.

And then there is Rick Perry, who famously blew up his front-runner presidential bid with an oops moment in which he couldn’t remember all three federal agencies he promised to abolish. A poll showed that even Texans, embarrassed for the state, didn’t want him to run again.

But the Republican governor is sending signals he might join the GOP sweepstakes for 2016.

There seems to be little going for another Perry bid. The big-money contributors who helped launch his brief, spectacular flameout might be reluctant to dig deep again. A reputation as a less-than-informed politico now precedes him.

Bob Vander Plaats, an influential conservative Christian activist in the key early-voting state of Iowa, didn’t even volunteer Perry’s name when asked about the GOP’s prospects to win back the White House in 2016.

Inside the Perry camp, word is that some around him who would benefit are encouraging Perry to run again — this time by studying up on the issues, getting enough rest and meticulously tending to grass-roots voters in a way he didn’t last year.

Playing the comeback card might be one of the few things Perry has going for him.

In politics and in journalism, there is something called the Law of the Oscillating Narrative. Once a story runs its course, reporters instinctively look for a new story line. The politician resurrected, the sinner redeemed, the underdog as insurgent — they’re all great story lines.

Perry’s mountain might be insurmountable. His former political consultant, Dave Carney, offered a frosty assessment on his prospects to National Journal: “Making a first impression a second time is always difficult.”

His best hope might be beating expectations. And expectations for Perry at the moment are pretty low, leaving room for a new narrative if something, anything, happens — a future blip in a poll in Iowa or South Carolina, an unexpected endorsement in Florida, evidence of a better-prepared candidate able to complete sentences without an oops.

And Perry’s record, before the failures of 2012, could offer a lot of what Republicans are looking for — strong economic growth and a history of outreach to Hispanic voters, for instance.

Texans treasure the Alamo story because it’s about courage, loyalty and principle. But we lost at the Alamo.