Tiger Woods at Arnold Palmer Invitational: Win a Good Sign for Augusta

If ever there were a perfect tournament to serve as the next stepping stone in Tiger Woods' long and arduous journey back to the top of the PGA Tour, it's The Masters.

And not solely because he's walked away from Augusta National with the coveted Green Jacket on four occasions and finished in the Top 10 on eight other occasions, the last six years in a row included.

Rather, it's the comfort that Tiger has with the course and the event, a familiarity demonstrated in those strong finishes, that would suggest The Masters as the best place and time for him to parlay victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational—his first on the PGA Tour in 30 months—into another slump buster, to break up the nearly four-year lull between Major championships.

There aren't any particularly compelling conclusions to draw between Tiger's history at Bay Hill and Augusta. He's won at the former course seven times and followed up with wins at the latter on two of those occasions, in 2001 and 2002, at the height of his dominance.

Of greater import is the somewhat symbolic role that Augusta National has played in his career, as a launching pad for different points in his career and as a comeback trail of sorts. His first Major victory came in The Masters in 1997, thereby marking his official ascension into "Next Big Thing" territory.

It's also at Augusta that Woods summarily silenced a Major-less slump that lasted almost three years, between the summer of 2002 and the spring of 2005, about which former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti would whine poetic on ESPN's "Around The Horn" nearly every afternoon.

In 2009, Tiger finished tied for sixth at Augusta in his first high-stakes appearance following his dramatic playoff win over Rocco Mediate at the US Open and the extensive knee surgery that it precipitated.

The very next year, Woods showed up at The Masters and wound up in a tie for fourth, a remarkable accomplishment in the wake of his rampant marital infidelity coming to light and the firestorm of personal trouble that resulted.

And in 2011, Woods rebounded from a poor end to the 2010 season, in which long-time swing coach Hank Haney bowed out (presumably to work on his forthcoming tell-all memoir). 

Of course, the significance of The Masters in Tiger's career could just as easily be coincidental. After all, it's always been the first Major tournament of the season, so it would only make sense for it to serve as a return date for all of Woods' offseason woes.

But the fact remains, Augusta National has been a golf haven for Woods, through bad times and good.

And now that Tiger's prospects are finally looking up for the first time in years, what better place to keep those good times rolling, to turn the page toward the next phase of his illustrious career and make peace with his past than at Amen Corner?

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