Woods’ return comes earlier than expected
By Matt King
Tiger Wood’s anticipated return has come much earlier than people believed it would.
In February, Woods said “I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don’t know when that day will be,” but few expected it to be at this year’s Masters.
The Masters is one of the biggest golf tournaments on the PGA schedule and the April 5 tournament is only six months after Woods announced he was stepping away from the sport to attend rehabilitation for sexual addiction.
Mackenzie Cuthbert, a back shop manager at Royal Woodbine golf course thinks Woods will bring crowds back to golf.
“The PGA tournaments have not been getting good turnouts. Golf without woods was like football without [NFL Patriots quarterback Tom] Brady.”
This sentiment is not shared by everyone though. Some believe that it is far too early for him to return to the tour.
“He is a coward; he is trying to run away from his problems,” said Trista Dimonte, a former Sportchek associate, alluding to heavy security at the Masters.
The Augusta National, the club where the Tiger will make his return, presented several reasons why the decision makes sense. It is a privately owned golf club that can limit the journalists and paparazzi allowed in, and for a dominant player like Woods, it is highly unlikely publications like TMZ will be granted access.
Dimonte believes that if Woods chooses to come back then he has to deal with the consequences of his actions.
Cuthbert on the other hand believes Woods has a lot of this going for him in this tournament.
“The Masters is such a prestigious tournament, they will have lots of security and it is his ideal return.”
Augusta National officials also argued the golf fans at the private clubs tend to be returning fans so the likelihood of Woods being heckled at from the grandstand is highly unlikely.
Woods has had some of his most impressive triumphs at this course. He won his first Masters in 1997, repeated in 2001 and 2002 before his last green jacket in 2005. He is tied with Arnold Palmer for second in victories at Augusta trailing only Jack Nicklaus.
Cuthbert thinks the long layoff will not hurt Woods in his performance.
“If he thinks he is ready to come back, so be it. It wouldn’t surprise me if he is able to pull out a win.”
