Masters 2012: Rory McIlroy Is Tiger Woods' Biggest Competition

The 2012 Masters tournament is destined to be a showdown between golf's brightest young star and a guy who used to be golf's brightest young star way back when.

Or, if you prefer people being referred to by their actual names, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

Tiger and McIlroy top the list of golfers with the best odds of winning the year's first major, according to Bovada. Tiger is the favorite, checking in with 7/2 odds of winning his fifth Green Jacket, but McIlroy is right there with him at 9/2.

Some will say it's too soon to anoint Tiger the favorite to win it all at Augusta National. He's been a wreck for two years, and he's just now rounding into form. A much-needed victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational doesn't mean Tiger is "back."

I disagree. I outlined a list of reasons why Tiger deserves to be the odds-on favorite yesterday, the short version of which is that his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was no fluke and that he knows Augusta National as well as any golfer alive.

He finished tied for fourth at the Masters each of the last two years despite the fact his game was a mess. Imagine what he'll be able to do now that his game isn't a mess.

But McIlroy is a huge threat to steal the Green Jacket from Tiger next weekend. He hasn't gotten as much press as he's deserved, but McIlroy has been playing excellent golf so far in 2012. He already has one win and four other top-five finishes in three PGA events and two European events.

Besides, let's not forget that McIlroy could have easily won the Masters last year. He was at 12-under and held a four-stroke lead heading into the final round. All he had to do was avoid choking and the Green Jacket was his.

Naturally, McIlroy choked, and it was brutal. He shot an 80, the worst-ever round by a three-round leader at the Masters. McIlroy got to tour every last square inch of Augusta National that day, and he hit rock bottom when one of his tee shots ended up nestled against a cottage far removed from the fairway.

You kind of saw McIlroy's choke job coming. Maybe not to the extent that it did, but asking a 21-year-old with no major victories under his belt to hold off a very strong field was asking a lot. McIlroy was too green to finish the job.

McIlroy proved a couple weeks later that he can finish what he starts when he capped off a dominant win at the U.S. Open. So if he starts strong at the Masters, the rest of the field had better watch out.

And make no mistake about it, McIlroy will start strong. He's only had one bad first round so far this season, and he's done enough to prove that his game is clicking as he heads into the Masters. He certainly won't be overwhelmed by Augusta National, as it's a course he's played before and mastered (no pun intended) through three rounds in 2011.

Tiger will play well at Augusta National, too. He's coming off a tournament in which his new and improved swing was working like a charm, and his putts were falling too. He knows Augusta National like the back of his hand, and this year he doesn't have to worry about tackling the course with a golf game that's a work in progress.

A lot could happen at the Masters, but here's what should happen: Tiger should start off strong and be at or near the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend, and McIlroy should follow suit and be right there with Tiger heading into the final two rounds.

Then it will become a question of who will be able to finish better: the resurgent hero who's been there and done that, or the guy who's looking for payback?

Rest assured, it will come to this, and it's going to be a fun duel.