Seven Players To Light Up The Masters: Tiger Woods

This is the final in the series of seven where I preview the players who could make a massive impact in this years Masters Championship.

As this is the final piece I thought it was only right that I finished with Tiger Woods, a man who has defied belief at Augusta before, and who is of course making his return to Major Competition after an eight-month lay-off.

Woods’ return to Augusta will of course bring back memories of how he burst onto the scene of Golf with his record breaking victory in 1997, Woods’ first major title, and his most comprehensive to date.

In Twelve years since that stunning victory Tiger has picked up 13 further major titles, while breaking numerous records along the way including becoming the youngster player to record a career Grand Slam, all before the age of 34, which he turns at the back end of the year.

In terms of Woods’ record at Augusta, he’ll be looking for his fifth title, the his first since 2005, where he overcame Chris DiMarco in a two-way play-off.

Although Woods has failed to pick up a title at Auguta since 2005, he has failed to finish outside the top three on each occasion, with being tied for 22nd his worst performance at this championship since the turn of the Millennium.

So his form in previous years in unquestionable, and his pedigree as the longest holder of the World No. 1 is unmatched, so why is maybe not the clear favourite for this championship?

Well the knee injury he picked up, and played through during the US Open put the player out for the rest of the year, and having only returned this year he has hardly had plenty of time on the course.

But like he so often does, he defied logic by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational, by one-stroke from Sean O’Hair.

To make the win even more incredible, Woods had a five shot deficit to make up at the beginning of the day, something he completed on the final hold with a mammoth 16-foot putt

In all honestly Tiger is looking as unbeatable as ever, and as his first win of the season showed it doesn’t take long for his form to start to shine, but a victory on Sunday afternoon might end up being his greatest on tour.