Tiger Woods Must Emerge as Front Runner at 2012 Masters

The moment of truth is here.

Tiger Woods is set to tee off this Thursday at Augusta National and, by the way he's been playing and how he's performed in previous Masters, he should be in contention all tournament long.

In the last seven years, Tiger has never finished worse than tied for sixth in the year's first major. Moreover, in 17 times he's played the Masters, he's missed the cut only once—in 1996—and as a professional he's never finished worse than tied for 22nd.

Despite experiencing struggles over the past two years, Tiger still managed to post two top 5 finishes.

In 2010, Woods opened with four-under(-par) 68—two shots from the leader Fred Couples. He added a 70 on Friday and went from seventh to third. On Saturday, he managed to shoot two under (par) to keep his place on the leaderboard and, by Sunday, had a 69 to finish tied for fourth.

A year later, he shot one-under(-par) 71, seven strokes off the early leaders Rory McIlroy and Álvaro Quirós. The next day, Woods fired a round of six under (par). On Saturday, he struggled with a 74 round, which sent him from third to ninth. In the final day, Tiger went low again and, with a 67, finished tied for fourth, four off the winner Charl Schwartzel.

Woods' main problem was his inability to score at least three rounds in the 60s, if he had done so his chances of adding a fifth green jacket to his wardrobe would have been better.

Tiger gets to Augusta with a recent win under his belt—at the Arnold Palmer Invitational—and playing the best golf he's showed since 2010.

With no more excuses, Tiger has been working with Joe LaCava for six months now and seems like the pair is finally on the same page.

Another important change Woods made was hiring Sean Foley, after he decided to split up with Hank Haney. Tiger's swing wasn't in place for a while, but this year the hard work has started to pay off.

The former world No.1 has posted four, top-five finishes in 2012, including his title at Bay Hill. Woods' worst finish this season is a tie for 17th at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Now that he's finally comfortable with his swing, the tee shots and approaches are more accurate. Tiger has hit 71.85 percent of greens in regulation and his driving accuracy is also on the up, he's ranked 18th on the PGA Tour with 67.94 percent.

Last year, Tiger hit 67.74 percent of greens in regulation and his driving accuracy was 48.90 percent.

Another sign that Woods' game is getting better is his scoring average. In 2011, he finished tied for 51st with 70.46—this season he leads this department at 68.27.

Regarding health, Tiger has been struggling with the left knee and the Achilles tendon—the latter pushed him to withdraw from the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship. Fortunately, it was just tightness, nothing to worry about.

What we learned from Woods' decision to leave the tournament is simple: he is not reckless anymore—like when he played the 2008 U.S. Open and limped constantly.

Tiger is seventh in the Official World Golf Rankings, something he hadn't accomplished since he fell from the top 10 last May after the Players' Championship.

All of this shows that Tiger Woods is going through great momentum and he has put some pressure off himself. A victory at the Masters will boost his confidence and put him on track to claim back the first spot of the ranking.