ROAR-ING TO GO!

Tiger feeling good as he looks for fifth green jacket beginning today at Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Two years ago, the 80th Masters was approaching. All the chatter and projections about who would be the 2016 champion at Augusta National was about the young “Big Three” — Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy. Spieth arrived as the defending champion. Day was the world No. 1 and coming off a major breakthrough triumph in the PGA Championship the previous summer. McIlroy was so serious about getting a green jacket that he skipped the Par-3 Contest. And your champion? Danny Willett, an Englishman who grew up on a sheep farm in Yorkshire. Since his Masters victory, he has fallen to 296th in the world rankings. It says a lot about golf’s fickle nature, and that even in a year such as this, when the tournament is being hyped as one of the “most anticipated” Masters of all time, the beauty is that we have no idea what’s going to happen come Thursday when they tee it up. GETTY

The return of a healthy and competitive Tiger Woods to Augusta National for the first time in three years has taken the interest to a new level, and in some ways maybe taken the heat off those most mentioned as favorites. There are top players who have been in form for months, such as Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose, and those, like Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson, who have quickly put themselves in the conversation with recent wins.

Spieth is a wildcard because he’s struggled with his putting. Justin Thomas can win every week, but hasn’t played well at Augusta.

And who’s the Willett of this field? Maybe Xander Schauffele, a Masters rookie, or Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.

Chris Fallica, a sports statistician, dug deep into the Masters numbers and found that 10 of the previous 14 tournaments have been won by players among the top 12 in the world rankings. This year, seven of the top 12 have at least one victory (Thomas has won twice).

The only players in the group not currently playing sharply are No. 6 Hideki Matsuyama and No. 8 Rickie Fowler. (No. 10 Brooks Koepka is out with a wrist injury.)

Interestingly, Fowler and Matsuyama fall into an area that might otherwise make them favorites. Eight of the