Bold decision by Tiger to play Masters

Tiger Woods’ decision to return to competition at this week’s Masters after a two-month break is unquestionably a bold one, considering his recent run of troubles.The former world number one has been woefully out of form in his only two tournament appearances this year and, though he feels he is now ready to compete again, he will face a daunting test on the fast, sloping greens at Augusta National. Yes, Woods is a four-times champion at the Masters and he knows the famed par-72 course as well as anyone else in the field, so he will certainly enjoy a huge comfort factor on his return to the year’s opening major. On the downside, though, his short game has been pathetic in his last two competitive starts, prompting several pundits to say he is suffering from the chipping ‘yips’. If Woods does indeed have the yips, which is an involuntary movement of the muscles, then Augusta National would be one of the most challenging venues for him to make a PGA Tour comeback. In January, Woods played in only his second event in five months—at the Phoenix Open—after enduring back problems for much of last year. What followed shocked the golfing world as a player once revered for his sublime short game struggled badly with his chipping, hitting shots fat or thin while occasionally resorting to a putter or a bump-and-run approach instead. He ended up posting the highest score of his professional career, an 11-over-par 82, to miss the cut by nine shots at the Phoenix Open, then withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open the following week after 11 holes because of tightness in his back. Woods then announced on his website that he would return to the PGA Tour only when he felt he was “tournament-ready”, a decision he finally reached on Friday after playing his second practice round at Augusta National in four days. However, “tournament-ready” is a far cry from, “I only tee it up if I believe I can win,” which was the Woods mantra during his glory days from 1997 to 2008 as he piled up 14 major victories. Woods, whose ranking has plummeted to 104th, has a remarkable record at Augusta National with 13 top-10s in his last 17 Masters starts, and he tied for fourth there in 2010 after not playing competitive golf for five months. He took an indefinite break from the game in late 2009, as his private life spectacularly unravelled, to try to repair his marriage amid revelations about his extra-marital affairs. Yet that 2010 Masters performance came after he had triumphed six times on the PGA Tour the previous year before going on to clinch victory at the Australian Masters in mid-November. Heading into the this year’s Masters is a very different story with Woods withdrawing twice and missing three cuts in just six starts on the US circuit over the past 12 months. His only finish was 69th place at the 2014 British Open. Woods has such an aura about him that writing him off completely would be a complete mistake. The fact that he has made the decision means he still feels reasonably confident. Making the cut would be certainly an achievement with anything above that a bonus.But what if he goes on to win the Masters for the fifth time? That certainly will have the world singing paeans to him again.