Tiger Woods: What Phenom Must Do to Redeem Himself at Masters

The past few years have been rough on Tiger Woods.  From chronic knee problems to his marriage falling apart, he has mostly been a shell of his former dominant self since 2009.

Yet, Woods' fans began to have some hope for him last month when he took home his seventh Arnold Palmer Invitational.  It was his first PGA Tour victory in two-and-a-half years and in the days leading up the Masters, it looked as though the old Tiger was back and ready to take down the competition.  Sadly, that was not the case.

Woods has failed to break par all tournament long and his putting has been atrocious.  He hasn't even been able to birdie any of the par fives and that's a bit disheartening given how he has won the Masters four times and knows the course at Augusta well.  Yesterday, he drew the ire of some as he kicked one of his clubs in frustration, though he later apologized.

That said, the chances of Woods winning the Masters this year are slim to none.  He's currently tied for 38th with a less than average score of three-over and the only way he could possibly win is if everyone ahead of him chokes and he himself is near perfect.  Given the nature of golf, neither is going to happen.

Still, that isn't to say that Woods can win the fans' hearts back on Day 4.  Sure, he can't win, but he can at least go out with a bang to show that he's still got some of the competitive fire left in him.  Simply put, he has to redeem himself so that he isn't automatically written off going forward.

If Woods can have a great day and finish at par, that should be enough.  He's three strokes away from reaching that goal and while that's never easy in golf, he has more than enough experience to pull it off.  It's an uphill battle to the fullest, but Woods' recent win at Bay Hill should motivate him to kill it at Augusta today.

While it's been easy to write off Tiger Woods for the past few years, that's the last thing anyone should do at this point.  Going through what he did would mess up anybody, let alone a professional athlete.  Still, he's on the right path and inching closer to full redemption.

By having a great final day at this year's Masters, he'll be taking another great step towards it.