Tiger Woods makes his return to golf this week at Augusta National Golf Club.
Wait.
Never mind.
Let’s take a break from that for at least one day.
Yes, golf’s best player is coming back from a long layoff after a much-publicized sex scandal. There’s no new news in that.
But there is a little golf tournament going on starting Thursday with the Masters, the first major of the year. And it’s a good thing. The Woods’ return story is just about out of steam, although a new woman seems to pop up each day with new allegations. But how much longer can that be intriguing?
It’s a good bet Woods himself is tired of talking and reading about it. The other players have to be. Augusta National officials have to be.
Everyone should be.
Masters chairman Billy Payne pretty much said Wednesday that nothing overshadows the Masters, and he’s right. Not even Woods’ struggles away from the course can push the Masters in the background, and the focus returns to the right spot beginning today.
Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer will tee things off at 7:40 a.m. EDT, when they serve as the honorary starters for this year’s tournament. At 7:50 a.m., the first group, made up of Nathan Green, Heath Slocum and Louis Oosthuizen, will head out off the first tee and get the tournament started for real.
Hopefully, that will end, or at least slow, all the talk about Woods and what he has done off the course. Instead, the talk should be about what Woods and the other 95 players in the field do on the course.
Woods has won four Masters titles and 14 majors overall, and he has to be considered one of the favorites to win this tournament, no matter what is going on in his life. But he’s not the only favorite, and he’s certainly not the only player in the field. With Woods not at his best – longtime friend Mark O’Meara said Woods is at about 75-80 percent – there is a long list of players with a real chance at winning the tournament.
Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Camilo Villegas, Sergio Garcia. They all have a shot, and the list goes on and on, reading like a who’s who of golf’s best at golf’s best tournament. Woods should have a shot at winning the tournament and slipping into a green jacket Sunday, too.
Getting to that point is what makes the Masters so interesting and exciting. That’s the focus starting today, and it’s nice for the focus to return to the correct thing.