Ten Players Who Badly Want to Beat Tiger Woods at The Masters

Tiger Woods will make his long-awaited return to the PGA Tour at The Masters beginning on April 8.

There are certainly questions surrounding his return that center around how he'll play: Will he be able to concentrate or will he be so distracted that he'll miss the cut after the first or second round?

But the biggest question may not be about Tiger himself, but his fellow players. That question is, who wants to beat Tiger the most? Who will bask the most in having Tiger looking up at them?

There are certain players that stick out like Phil Mickelson and Rory Sabbatini, but there are others that fit that description.

Here are the top 10 players that are gunning for Tiger as he makes his return.

10. Lee Westwood

"I'm not bothered about playing with Tiger. You've got to play with someone," Westwood said with a laugh. "The American crowd will mainly be on Tiger's side, but that's understandable. That won't bother me. I'm used to being in these positions. I've played in five Ryder Cups and won 29 tournaments."

These are the comments that Lee Westwood made prior to the final round of the 2008 US Open before he buckled under the pressure of being Tiger's playing partner.

He may not be Tiger's biggest challenger during this tournament, but make no mistake, Westwood sees the huge target on Tiger's back and he's already picked out the arrow he's about to fire at him.

9. Retief Goosen

“I think so. It just seemed that when he hit a bad shot his knee was in pain and on his good shots he wasn’t in pain. You see when he made the putts and he went down on his knees and was shouting, ‘Yeah’, his knee wasn’t sore.

“Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured, he would not have played.”

These comments were made by Retief Goosen after the US Open in 2008, a tournament won by Woods after he had undergone surgery on his knee.

Seems like a little bit of sour grapes to me. It's not like Goosen finished a shot behind Tiger and wonders "what might have been." Goosen finished 14th in the tournament.

No offense, Retief, but spouting off after not even being in the Top 10 doesn't really look good.

But, besides that, believe that Goosen is gunning to prove that Tiger is not the best and he, possibly more than anyone else on this list, wants the Tiger talk to stop.

8. Padraig Harrington

"If you're going to choose a golf course for it to happen, then Augusta is the place. It is as ordered as can be there, so I for one would be quite comfortable if I got drawn with Tiger."

Harrington seems to have no fear if he were to be paired with Tiger at The Masters coming up in just a few short weeks.

He may not be the most outspoken golfer on the course, but he's one that could take the seemingly unbeatable Tiger down. Harrington is aiming for his first green jacket of his career.

7. Ian Poulter

"Don't get me wrong, I really respect every professional golfer, but I know I haven't played to my full potential and when that happens, it will be just me and Tiger."

Those infamous comments, spoken by Poulter in January 2008 prior to the Dubai Desert Classic, made their way to Tiger's ears quickly, and Poulter would end up paying for them later; he has never challenged Woods in any tournament that he was in the same field.

Though Poulter may have "slipped" on those comments, he may not be so cautious prior to The Masters, saying what's probably on every other golfer's mind.

He may not be the favorite to win, but I think he'll take some enjoyment of Tiger looking up at him when the tournament is over.

6. Sergio Garcia

"First of all," Garcia said with a smile, "I want to thank Tiger for not being here. That always makes things a little bit easier."

Sergio Garcia seemed to be thankful for Tiger's absence at the 2008 Player's Championship, a tournament Garcia ended up winning.

There's no question that Garcia is one of the most talented young golfers on tour, and there's no question he's always been gunning for the world's No. 1 ranking.

Garcia doesn't have bad blood for Tiger; he just wants to be known as the next "big thing" of the PGA Tour.

5. Rory Sabbatini

"I think it's going to be interesting to see the reaction of the public to Tiger. He's always been the golden boy of the spectators. It's definitely going to be interesting to see how people react to that and how they respond to everything that's occurred."

Rory Sabbatini is probably more well known for not shutting his mouth when he should than for his prowess on the course. Or maybe it's better said that Rory has stuck his foot in his mouth more times than he can count.

I'm sure good ol' Rory would love to beat Tiger, but the only thing he's been able to do is more talking than playing.

He's "wanted Tiger," said Tiger "was beatable," yet those comments seem to be shoved back in his face every time he's gone up against him.

Ok Rory, let's see how you do this time around.

4. Ben Crane

"This is no surprise to anyone who knows Tiger. He's a phony and a fake and he can't retain that squeaky-clean endorsement deal any longer."

Ben who? Yeah that's right, Mr. Crane didn't hold back when asked about Tiger's comeback at The Masters coming up, calling Tiger a "phony" and a "fake."

Strong words from an unknown. I'd be more impressed with those comments from, say, Ernie Els or Phil "Lefty" Mickelson.

Hey Ben, you might want to watch yourself when it comes to calling out arguably the best golfer there's ever been. Just ask your peers what happened to them when they stuck their foot in their mouths.

Oh sure, the media will be all over the fellow players, asking them about their opinion. We'll just have to wait and see if Crane backs down from those comments.

I'm guessing he'll be a little more politically correct the next time a microphone is shoved in his face.

3. Phil Mickelson

"After seeing Steve Williams' comments, all I could think of was how lucky I am to have a class act like [Jim MacKay] on my bag and representing me."

We all remember these comments from Phil Mickelson after Tiger's caddy used a choice word to describe Lefty.

If anyone has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to Tiger, it has to be Phil. Though he doesn't have the biggest chip on his shoulder, it's enough to want to beat Tiger every time the two step on the same course.

Though, Phil might want to check his clubs to make sure he's not accused of cheating again before he goes back out there. Just sayin'...

2. Ernie Els

"It’s selfish–and you can write that. I feel sorry for the sponsor. Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday. This takes a lot away from the golf tournament."

Ernie wasn't too pleased when he found out that Tiger was going to make his "apology" speech before the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Though he wasn't the only one that was upset, the only thing that took away from the tournament was Tiger not being in the field.

Els has always gunned for Tiger, but he just has never been able to get over that hump. You know how Shaq always has names for himself like "The Big Aristotle?"

Well, Ernie has names too, just not ones that he'd ever give himself. Names like "The Big Should-have-been," or "The Big Almost."

Ernie has a great chance to prove himself with Tiger being more vulnerable than he ever has been.

Just win Ernie, just win.

1. Jesper Parnevik

"I would be especially sad about it since I'm kind of—I really feel sorry for Elin—since me and my wife were at fault for hooking her up with him," Parnevik told the Golf Channel's Inga Hammond at the PGA Tour's Q-School in West Palm Beach, Fla.

"We probably thought he was a better guy than he is. I would probably need to apologize to her and hope she uses a driver next time instead of the 3-iron.”

The guy with the biggest grudge against Tiger is one Jesper Parnevik. Jesper apparently advocates violence after saying Elin should use a driver the next time she goes after Tiger. Sounds a tad morbid there, Jesper.

It's well known that Parnevik and his wife introduced Tiger to Elin and were the biggest force behind their marriage.

Now that Tiger's indiscretions have come out, Jesper now looks like the angry friend trying to beat up his buddy for making him look like a fool.

The two will cross paths at The Masters, that much you can bet on. And you can also take this to the bank that there will be media cameras on both guys to see if anything goes down or if they just give each other the cold shoulder.

Whether the media tries to get a war of words going between the two is yet to be seen, but it wouldn't shock me.