Masters 2012: Why Odds Are Still Stacked Against Tiger Woods

Don't count on Tiger Woods to dominate the competition at Augusta this year.

Woods is now considered to be the favorite to win the 2012 Masters Tournament after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

Per CBS Sports:

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Tiger Woods is now the favorite to win the Masters - cbsprt.co/WoodsMasters

— CBSSports.com (@CBSSports) March 26, 2012

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I'm truly baffled at how quickly the tides of perception have turned. It wasn't long ago that Woods was in the midst of a 30-month losing streak. Now, he is being considered the favorite to win one of the toughest tests in golf against the top competition the world has to offer.

The odds really aren't good for Woods to win this year, let alone any other year.

Consider that Woods was once the No. 1 player in the world—by a long shot—for 281 consecutive weeks, a PGA record. That is over five years, folks.

He has held the No. 1 player ranking for 623 weeks during his long and successful career, during which he was easily the most dominant player the golf world had ever seen. 

This will be Woods' 17th appearance at Augusta. 

Woods has managed to win four green jackets. His first was all the way back in 1997, when he destroyed the field to become the youngest winner in the history of the tournament.

He has won the Masters four times out of 16 attempts, giving him a 25 percent winning record there, a gaudy number for sure.

Still, he did that at the height of his powers. He was Tiger, and everyone else crumbled in his shadow. 

Things have changed a bit since that time, though.

There is a new generation of golfers storming the PGA Tour that isn't afraid of Tiger anymore, and for good reason. While Tiger has been away, trying desperately to get his mojo back, these young men have been out winning on tour.

Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Lee Westwood, Charl Schwartzel, Webb Simpson and many others have just as good a shot to win at Augusta as Tiger does, and they are no longer bound by the mystique that used to surround Woods on Sundays.

The truth is that the world is hoping for Tiger to return to form, and that hope is coloring expectations. Woods shouldn't be the favorite, yet he is.

Tiger is fun to watch when he's on his game.

People miss his Sunday theatrics, and who can blame them? I miss it too.

It's time to get back to reality, though, and come to grips with the fact that the odds of Tiger winning the Masters in 2012 are slim, indeed.

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