Tiger's Resurgence Promises Compelling Masters

Masters weekend promises a few things for golf fans. Jim Nantz will lower the volume after last week's Final Four, Tom Rinaldi will tell beautiful stories and the actual golf at Augusta will be even more beautiful with the game's best playing on the world's most famous course. A decade ago, another promise could be made: Tiger Woods would put on a show just as he had been doing since 1997 when he won his first green jacket.

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

Golf Doing Fine in Tiger's Absence

Shortly after Thanksgiving night of 2009, when Tiger Woods crashed his car in a single-car accident and set off a tabloid paper's dream scenario, many wondered if the game of golf could recover. Tiger's personal life was in shambles and his golf game quickly followed suit. There were some high moments for Woods, but by and large his game has spiraled downward to the point where he's a bit of an afterthought. 

10 years ago, maybe even up to two years ago, the idea of Tiger Woods being absent from the Masters and it not being that big of a deal was ludicrous. He was golf's biggest star and breaking Jack Nicklaus' majors record was inevitable. But that was then and this is now. Tiger is done and new faces have stepped to the forefront of the golf world.

The game of golf is just fine. Sure, replacing Tiger Woods is an impossible task and he will still generate more buzz than anybody when he tees it up, but the game of golf didn't need someone to replace Tiger. The game needed fresh faces and the PGA Tour is competitive with guys like Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy.

It's a matter of preference, but the game is more unpredictable now. 12 different players have won a major in the last four years. It's created a question of who is the best? Spieth, Bubba Watson and McIlroy have each won two in the past four years, while Jason Day has a win and a whole cupboard full of top-four finishes in that span.

The game has legitimate stars competing for the top spot. That's different from the years before 2012 when 15 different players won the 16 majors from 2008-11. Padraig Harrington was the only player to win twice in that span and golf was searching for its stars. The parity was a bad thing in the sense that no player could drum up a consistent following and interest.

Times have changed. The lovable Watson has emerged as a consistent threat and McIlroy and Spieth have both had short runs that looked Tiger-esque. With the 2016 Masters underway, the game has an excitement around it that hasn't been seen since Woods went on the decline. The announcement that Woods wouldn't be at Augusta this year was met with the obvious media attention, but it was different than years past. 

No longer is Tiger's absence a "death sentence" for golf and rarely do casual fans refuse to tune in anymore just because Woods isn't playing. That once seemed unfathomable, but it speaks to the quality of play on the Tour now. 

The Masters is moving right along without Tiger and the game of golf is too. It's still yet to be seen if Woods will come back and be competitive, but know this: even if he never does, the game of golf will be just fine. The PGA's slogan, #TheseGuysAreGood, is true and it's worth tuning in.