Tiger Woods, the Masters and the Marathon to 19 Major Titles

A few months ago, or around the time the umpteenth bimbo showed up claiming Tiger Woods was her daddy, it was real easy to dump on the golfer. He's not coming back, said some. He'll never break Jack Nicklau's 18 major championships won. Put a nail in him. The younger golfers have overtaken him.

Yes, Woods' golf game fell into a black hole after that Thanksgiving night a lifetime ago. He had all those knee operations. He couldn't put together four rounds of under-par golf. Rivals ran rings around him.

But the man did not win 14 majors (one of them on a broken leg) acting like a wallflower at the orgy. There is a steely will behind that diffident gaze. If one can get into his head, he was probably thinking: "Just wait, you m#$%^&*%^&*(. I'm going to come back and show you who's No. 1."

The comeback came in fits and starts. No one believed Woods when he would say that he was working on his new swing and it was taking a little time to get everything together.

Now, everyone is staring over their shoulder after Woods charged to a win in Bay Hill in dominating fashion. He stretched a one-stroke lead after the third round to win by five, virtually pulling away like Secretariat coming down the homestretch of Belmont to win by more than 30 lengths.

Everybody is chirping they're no longer afraid of El Tigre. But that's like whistling in the dark while walking past the cemetery with Chucky the killer doll lurking nearby and you're about to piss in your pants.

Don't think for one nanosecond that Tiger does not remember all the guys and writeups dismissing him as done and buried. Great champions always remember every niggling slight or insult, and this fuels their drive to be the best.

Will Tiger win the Masters? I'd say it's 50-50. But this is the major that probably holds the most meaning for him. Among the four majors, it is the only one played on the same course every year.

It has the most allure. Where else can you come up with a golf course that has Amen Corner playing such a decisive role in the first full weekend of April?

I would not be surprised if Tiger wins two majors this year. I always felt he would break Jack's record. For him, victory in this year's Masters would be complete redemption that the golf game once destroyed by his runaway libido and hubris has come back.