Tiger Woods: Will Tiger Regain Magic Touch at the Players Championship?

With the daunting run of majors set for this summer, Tiger Woods is running out of opportunities to get his game back before a stretch that could make or break his future in golf. 

Woods seems just as hungry as he's ever been at this year's The Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach, but he posted a woeful two-over 74 in Thursday's opening-round action in Florida.

"It was frustrating in the sense that my good shots ended up in bad spots, and obviously my bad shots ended up in worse spots," Woods told ESPN.com.

There's no doubt that Woods believes in his game, and it showed at times on Thursday, despite many awkward and sometimes horrible lies of the ball. If those good shots that he's referring to land Friday, he could be in for a big round. 

Just weeks ago, after his win at Bay Hill, things looked up for Woods, and he was presumed to be the hands-down favorite to take home The Masters. Then, he managed to shoot a below-par round at Augusta and was an afterthought heading into the tournament's final round.

The good thing? The Masters is the first of four majors on the year, so he can rebound.

The bad thing? He backed up his poor Masters performance with a missed cut at Quail Hollow for the Wells Fargo Championship. 

Although it wouldn't be the first career-low mark he's posted since his public and personal downfall, Woods would boast consecutive missed cuts for the first time in his professional career if he were to miss Friday's cut. 

While The Players Championship may not be an official major, it carries arguably the biggest significance among all non-major PGA Tour events. It has always been a tournament of interest for the world's best golfers and would no doubt be a statement win if Woods could rally back from a tough first round.

Woods won his only Players tournament in 2001. He'll be paired up with Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan Friday as he fights to make the cut and make a surge toward the leaderboard.

There's no doubt that Woods desperately needs to turn his game around this weekend at The Players Championship. If he can manage to par the first hole—which he bogeyed Thursday—and pull out a birdie in the par-five second hole, it could catapult him to take advantage of the par-fives like he's known to do, and he could become the leader at Ponte Vedra at the day's end.

If anyone could do it, it'd be Tiger, right?