Tiger Woods and The Circus That Will Invade Augusta for the 2010 Masters

It is a tradition like no other or so says the CBS television trailer.

Now it will be a circus like no other.

Even at Augusta—even at the Masters—that wonderful place and the event that is the toughest ticket in all of sports.

He's coming back, the former Golden Child, now the Fallen One.

That would be Tiger Woods, the artist formerly known at Eldrick.

The perfect fairways at the National will serve as the carpet for his fairway footsteps and there are memories for him there. Mostly good memories, some great ones, in fact.

Ratings will soar, and that's fine with the guys at Augusta. It's their show and theirs alone.

Like the lead-in line from old sci-fi show The Outer Limits , they control the horizontal, they control the vertical along with everything else.

They even control the announcers.

Mind your P's and Q's or you could get the boot, like funny man Gary McCord, who once remarked that the slope was so slippery at the 15th, it was treated with bikini wax.

Augusta does not have fans. It has "patrons."

The tickets are cherished and guarded like family heirlooms.

In short, Augusta is more than special, it is hallowed in the world of golf.

It is the only major that is played every year in the same place. It is the signal that spring has arrived and that there is new hope in the world.

It is a place where old friendships are re-visited. It is a place where deals are done under the large magnolia tree in the back of the clubhouse.

And now it will be a place that becomes the focal point of the sports world—as if it already wasn't.

Woods is back and asking Augusta for shelter from the maddening crowds. It's a good place for that.

And shelter is something Tiger needs a lot of these days.