Masters 2012: Tiger Woods' Return to Form Guarantees Classic at Augusta

The Masters at Augusta is always a special event for golf fans, but something has been missing.

Finally, we will welcome the real Tiger Woods to the most treasured tournament of the year. 

This isn't to take away from the usual complement of stars that have given us much to love about the past year.

Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson will no doubt enter as contenders, no matter their form. 

There are some golfers that show promise as soon as they hit the green, but that was gone from Tiger Woods' game. 

The mystique of the sport's greatest was nowhere to be found, and we had to dig deep to find where the future of the sport would lead us.

You Never Miss A Good Thing Until It's Gone 

After 924 days, Tiger Woods finally emerged as if he had never left.

The field at Bay Hill was left to sit back and take in a dominating four days by one of the games best. 

The fact that he had gone so long without a sniff of a tournament win made last Sunday so special.

For a couple of years, we have been searching for the next Tiger Woods, seriously contemplating that we would never see another fist pump on 18. 

He was Michael Jordan in a Wizards jersey, flailing and faltering at every turn. 

Of course, we have to acknowledge that the sample size is far too small and his form prior to Bay Hill makes it impossible to label him as back. 

Then you consider that before his putting left him, Woods was driving the ball as well as he had in his career.

With his short game working, he has to be the favorite headed into a Masters that he placed fourth in one year ago. 

If you need a summation to the turmoil he had to come back from and what his recent win means, you only need see the words of NBC's Dan Hicks when Woods completed his victory. Via Yahoo Sports:

"

It's not just any Sunday at Bay Hill. Tiger's been out of the mix for a few years, the last of the wins here in 2009...From those heights to the depths, if you called the 71 PGA Tour wins and 14 majors phase one, then this is the beginning of phase two. The first win of the resurrection of the personal life and the golf swing and the golf career. 

"

In short, we now have a reason to be excited about a promising phase two. 

Field's Reaction

There is one thing that just never took hold last year at the Masters, and that is a field that had to fear a Tiger Woods surge. 

He may have had a solid finish at Augusta a year ago, but the leaders were never believed that this Woods was the legend of old. 

That will all change.

Call it Michael Jordan vs. Kobe Bryant, but McIlroy will now have an in-form Tiger Woods to battle. 

We finally have that barometer that will measure the future of the sport with one of the greats.

Will the brash youth shrink under the shadow of a hungry Tiger, or will they continue with the confident precision they have delivered for over two years. 

It's been a child's paradise for too long, but the Master's will now welcome back Tiger Woods, and that means everything. 

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