Abby Brammell

Tiger Woods: Returning to the fray

One subject appeared to dominate the locker room at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week. It came from the professionals who have homes 20 minutes from Bay Hill at Isleworth and was passed from table to table

Tiger is on the driving range morning, noon and night and he is killing it, they said. Tiger’s been up to Augusta and he loves what he sees. Three to one odds against him winning? That might even be a tad generous, intoned one pro, with awe in his eyes. Paul Casey said Tiger can just roll up, turn the key and off he goes. Best of all was the verdict of John Cook, who can’t see anyone else winning the Masters.

Oh, please. We’re surely not going down this route again, where all the leading players of the day fall at the feet of Tiger Woods and let him walk all over them.

Five months out should be an insurmountable hurdle, but some players are doing their level best to help Woods clamber over it. Amazing isn’t it, how the more he proves himself all too human, the more some players talk him up into being a God.

Colin Montgomerie said Woods wouldn’t be playing the Masters next week if he didn’t think he could win. Well, that might be true. But the real reason he’s playing next week is that it offers him the easiest exit route from all his troubles. He’s going there in shame, not honour.

The facts are that Woods hasn’t won at Augusta since it was toughened up in 2006. He hasn’t played anywhere since last November - and the last time he played in a major, a redoubtable Korean called YE Yang actually stood up to him and beat him.

Every pro in the field at the Masters should be thinking it would be one of the miracles of the age for Woods to win next week - not thinking that he’s overdue a victory at Augusta. His absence from the field of battle shouldn’t be making their hearts grow scared, but race with excitement.

Yes, if Woods were to claim a fifth green jacket and a 15th major championship, it would be testament to his unique qualities. But it wouldn’t say a lot for everyone else.


source :dailymail