I couldn’t think of a better tournament to host Tiger Woods’ comeback to golf than The Masters.
Think about how affected a smaller tournament would have been by being Tiger’s return from exile. Think about how many extra press passes and tickets would be sold. It would become an absolute zoo and it would turn from an event, to an all-out circus of people trying to get to Tiger. It wouldn’t be about golf, it would be about how Tiger handled the media.
At The Masters, he’ll be facing no more media than that would already be at the biggest golf event of the year. It’s a course he’s familiar with as well and, by making it his first tournament of the year, how much expectation can you really heap on the guy? If he had one or two warm-ups, half of the pundits out there would be expecting a win. Now, if he falters he has two built in excuses: The pressure of his return and the rust that he’ll inevitably show.
Now, after checking to see that Tiger is the actually somehow the favourite to win, I’d love to take some bets against that. In fact, if I was going to set the over/under of what place he’d finish, it would probably be in the 20s.