HERE COMES REIGN AGAIN
Rivals: Resurgent Tiger Masters win would be ‘unbelievable’
What if he wins? What if Tiger Woods — who hasn’t played in a major championship since 2015, hasn’t won a tournament since 2013 and hasn’t won a major since 2008 — wins the Masters.
“This Masters?’’ Adam Scott, the 2012 Masters winner and a longtime competitor of Woods’, said incredulously.
“That would be unbelievable,’’ Scott said after taking a breath. “But it would match the entire story of his career.’’
To be clear: Woods is among the favorites to win the Masters. Yes, this Masters. Some Las Vegas books have Woods as the solo favorite to win his fifth green jacket.
Others have installed him as a co-favorite with Dustin Johnson, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, and Justin Thomas, ranked No. 2, the reigning PGA Tour Player of the year and who already has a win this year.
Here are the players whom Woods is favored over:
Bubba Watson, a two-time Masters winner who won last week’s WGC Match Play and the Genesis Open in February.
Phil Mickelson, a threetime Masters winner who won the WGC in Mexico last month.
Jordan Spieth, the 2015 Masters winner who went a stretch during which he held the lead after seven consecutive rounds at Augusta National.
Rory McIlroy, who’s seeking a first green jacket to complete the rare career Grand Slam.
Defending champion Sergio Garcia. Defending runner-up Justin Rose, who has won three times worldwide since the start of 2017. Woods, who has played 18 PGA Tour rounds since undergoing his fourth back surgery a year ago this month, has made tangible progress in each of his starts this season — a tie for 23rd at Torrey Pines (his debut), a 12-place finish at the Honda Classic after a missed cut at Riviera, a runner-up at the Valspar and a tie for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Woods, though he hasn’t won yet, has looked a lot like his old self as he has progressed, and his peers have noticed.
When he teed it up at the Hero World Challenge in December in the Bahamas, his first competition since April 2017 spinal fusion surgery, he was ranked 1,199th in the world.
He enters this week’s Masters, which he hasn’t won in 13 years, ranked 104th. What if he wins this week? “It’d be unbelievable,’’ Davis Love III said. “I wouldn’t be surprised, but I think it would be an unbelievable story.’’
Stewart Cink, like Love, is another of the veteran players who have competed against Woods when he was at his best. He said the buzz surrounding this comeback of Woods’ “almost feels like ’97 again,’’ referring to Woods bursting onto the scene at Augusta to win his first Masters in record fashion.
“If he wins, I think it would be one of the best examples of how mental strength can overcome physical adversity and circumstances off the course,’’ Cink told The Post. “It’s like people wrote him off and now he’s back, and it’s almost like the fans and TV viewers are getting a chance to see something they never thought they’d get a chance to see again. I’m not going to hide it. I’m surprised.’’ What if he wins this week? “I can’t compare it to anything else,’’ Jason Day said. “For him to be able to come back, it doesn’t surprise me because it is Tiger. But saying that, like, I mean, not too long ago we were talking about Tiger and the chipping yips. And then he’s at Valspar nearly chipping in every chip. It’s just unbelievable where his short game has come, how far his swing as come.’’
Paul Goydos, a PGA Tour veteran who now plays most of his golf on the Champions Tour, said the younger generation, which grew up idolizing Woods and has been pining to compete against him, should be careful what they wish for.
“These kids have no idea what’s coming,’’ Goydos told The Post. “If he’s healthy, it doesn’t matter what his age is. If he’s healthy … these guys have no idea what’s coming. There’s a reason why he’s won [79] tournaments. There’s a reason why [Jack] Nicklaus won 18 majors. There’s a reason that [Ben] Hogan got hit by a freaking bus and came back and won majors. There’s a reason why these guys do this [stuff]. They’re 100 percent better than everybody else. Talent is not disbursed equally.’’ What if he wins this week? “I think you could argue,” Charles Howell III told The Post, “it would be the greatest comeback in sports. Ever.’’