Times changed though. Tiger's downfall is well-documented with the lowest of lows coming so fast that it seemed we hardly had time to say goodbye. He was still around, and he was still Tiger, but he wasn't that Tiger. He didn't invoke that fear in opponents that was his signature.
Despite his struggles both on and off the course, Augusta has always brought the best out of Woods. After his infamous infidelity scandal in November 2009, he has won just eight tournaments with three coming in 2012 and five in 2013. There were times he fell off the grid completely it seemed, but Augusta almost always gave us the old Tiger. Woods has tied for fourth three times at The Masters since 2009 and shot six rounds under 70.
While Tiger scuffled through the past few years, golf didn't wilt. On this very blog, we looked into how golf has done in Tiger's absence, which was just fine thanks to Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy and others. But there's nobody like Tiger.
Tiger is playing his best golf in a long time and, according to him, feels the best he has felt in six or seven years. A few weeks ago, Woods finished second in the Valspar Championship and nearly shut down Twitter in the process. Consider the fact that he had fans turning away from March Madness to watch him make a late charge in the Arnold Palmer Invitational of all things. That's the Tiger Effect.
Thursday he will tee off a little before 11 a.m. in what is the most exciting buildup to the Masters we've had in awhile. Along with Tiger, McIlroy and Phil Mickelson have also turned back the clock in recent weeks. The game's new wave of stars in Spieth, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler will be there, and there will also be somebody like 2016 champion Danny Willett who nobody expects to challenge for the jacket, but does so against all odds.
For years there seemed to be a collective groan from fans and media as we watched Tiger struggle on the course, change his swing or sit out altogether. Now, love him or hate him, don't deny you're excited to see that red shirt on Sunday walking up to the 18th green most likely in contention for his fifth green jacket.
Tiger is back, folks, and it promises to be a good show.
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Rounds 1 and 2 Tee Times (ET)
8:30AM/11:15AM: Austin Cook, Ted Potter Jr., Wesley Bryan
8:41AM/11:26AM: Ian Woosnam, Ryan Moore, Jhonattan Vegas
8:52AM/11:37AM: Mike Weir, Brendan Steele, Matt Parziale (a)
9:03AM/11:48AM: Jose Maria Olazabal, Kevin Chappell, Dylan Frittelli
9:14AM/11:59AM: Bryson DeChambeau, Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Fitzpatrick
9:25AM/12:10PM: Mark O’Meara, Brian Harman, Harry Ellis (a)
9:36AM/12:32PM: Vijay Singh, Satoshi Kodaira, Daniel Berger
9:47AM/12:43PM: Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Pat Perez, Francesco Molinari
9:58AM/12:54PM: Danny Willett, Kyle Stanley, Jason Dufner
10:09AM/1:05PM: Hideki Matsuyama, Patton Kizzire, Paul Casey
10:31AM/1:16PM: Zach Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Branden Grace
10:42AM/1:27PM: Tiger Woods, Marc Leishman, Tommy Fleetwood
10:53AM/1:38PM: Sergio Garcia, Justin Thomas, Doc Redman (a)
11:04AM/1:49PM: Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, Jason Day
11:15AM/2:00PM: Patrick Reed, Carley Hoffman, Adam Hadwin
11:26AM/8:30AM: Billy Horschel, Chez Reavie, Cameron Smith
11:37AM/8:41AM: Sandy Lyle, Si Woo Kim, Doug Ghim (a)
11:48AM/8:52AM: Trevor Immelman, Ian Poulter, Patrick Cantlay
11:59AM/9:03AM: Angel Cabrera, Ross Fisher, Jimmy Walker
12:10PM/9:14AM: Fred Couples, Hao Tong Li, Joaquin Niemann (a)
12:32PM/9:25AM: Larry Mize, Russell Henley, Shubhankar Sharma
12:43PM/9:36AM: Bernhard Langer, Tony Finau, Yuta Ikeda
12:54PM/9:47AM: Charl Schwartzel, Webb Simpson, Yuxin Lin (a)
1:05PM/9:58AM: Kevin Kisner, Thomas Pieters, Xander Schauffele
1:16PM/10:09AM: Gary Woodland, Yusaku Miyazato, Tyrrell Hatton
1:27PM/10:31AM: Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar
1:38PM/10:42AM: Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
1:49PM/10:53AM: Jordan Spieth, Alex Noren, Louis Oosthuizen
2:00PM/11:04AM: Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Rafael Cabrera-Bello
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