Will Tiger be ready for the Masters?

ByBOB HARIG
March 13, 2015, 5:20 PM

— -- Tiger Woods awoke Friday with a deadline looming: whether to play in next week's Arnold Palmer Invitational or not.

He ultimately decided to skip the tournament at the Bay Hill Club near Orlando, where he has won eight times previously as a pro and also captured a junior title 24 years ago.

It raises questions about where his game truly is at the moment, and if he will be ready for the Masters, which begins in less than four weeks on April 9.

"I've been speaking to him regularly," Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said Friday after Woods made it official that he would be skipping a tournament where he has enjoyed so much success.

"Had he truly known 100 percent, I think he would have communicated that yesterday or the day before. I think he wanted to see exactly where he was. He might have been leaning one way, but he woke up and certainly didn't have 100 percent clarity."

Now there are multiple ways to view this, and it is hard to ignore the cold reality that Woods does not feel his game is suitable to return at a course where he has won the past two instances he entered the tournament, in 2012 and 2013.

It is certainly fair to wonder just how bad things must be if Woods won't play at such a positive place, a venue that is certainly not easy, but one he has dominated.

The other view, of course, is that if he truly was uncertain Friday, he must have at least experienced enough positives in his game to even consider returning to the PGA Tour. For all his success at Bay Hill over the years, he's also had his share of poor finishes there, too.

And that's the problem with assuming Woods will play at venues he likes. It doesn't much matter if he plays if his game doesn't show up with him.

"He said in his statement that he's making strides, and he is making strides," Steinberg said. "We're not watching every shot, but he tells us he's making strides, he sounds more positive. He sounds encouraged. I think he is standing firm to what he said prior to Honda, 'I'm not going to come back until I'm tournament ready and can play at that level.'

"Tiger's tournament ready is not anybody else's. I'm impressed that he's living up to that and that he is going to wait until he feels he can compete."

Clearly Woods left Torrey Pines on Feb. 5 with things in shambles. His back ached, and he couldn't hit a chip shot any better than a 10-handicapper. A week prior, he had shot his worst score as a pro, an 82, at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Woods has played just 37 holes in 2015, and other than the eagle he made on the back nine at TPC Scottsdale -- a 5-iron from 225 yards nearly rolled in for an albatross -- most of it looked bad.

Hence his decision to step away on Feb. 11 -- and a month later he's still not comfortable enough to return.

Steinberg said Woods has been "grinding, really working hard," and presumably he means all aspects of his game. The agent would not rule out Woods playing at either the Valero Texas Open or the Shell Houston Open, the remaining tournaments prior to the Masters. But both seem highly unlikely.

Woods' only appearance at the Texas tournament was in 1996 on a different course. He's never played the Houston tournament, and has never played the week prior to the Masters, either.

Then again, do you return at Augusta National, as demanding of a chipping course as there is anywhere?

Woods did make his return to the game at the Masters in 2010 after not having played to date that year, but things were considerably different. Although his personal life was in turmoil, Woods was coming off a huge 2009 in which he won seven times worldwide, including a victory at his last event in Australia.

While he wasn't tournament ready, Woods' opening-round 68 was an incredible achievement under the circumstances. He ended up finishing tied for fourth, five strokes behind winner  Phil Mickelson.

But that was two swing coaches ago, pre-Achilles injury and back surgery.

With all the attention on his short game, it is easy to forget that it was only in November that Woods announced he was working with swing consultant Chris Como. We've seen him compete in less than seven full rounds with that full swing, and while there were signs of improvement, the short-game problems vastly overshadowed anything positive with his swing.

"We should give Tiger the benefit of the doubt as far as knowing the challenge of Augusta National and knowing what the golf course entails," Steinberg said. "I'm pretty sure only he can make that decision. He knows a lot more about whether he needs an event or if he doesn't before the Masters. He's proven he can do it all sorts of ways."

No doubt, but Woods never has had to overcome this kind of doubt, this kind of uncertainty about his game. Now 79th in the world, he could very well be outside of the top 100 by the time he drives down Magnolia Lane -- if he does at all.