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It's about time Tiger emerged from the high grass

Tiger Woods will be the centre of attention at Augusta © Getty Images

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Tiger Woods has confirmed he will return to action at the Masters and it really was about time he let the world know when he was going to get back to playing competitive golf.

For a number of weeks it had been apparent that it was no longer a question of if, rather than when, he would dust off his bag and give caddie Steve Williams the call for the return to action.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem gave a telecast on Monday, with it widely believed that he would announce that Woods was making his return at ... But no, we had Finchem issuing an update saying there was no update, while confirming Farmers Insurance would continue as the title sponsor for the tour event at Torrey Pines for the next four years. Bit of a damp squib there then, but great publicity for Farmers Insurance.

It was starting to turn into something of a circus. We had confirmation that Woods was back on the range and practicing hard. "I spent an hour with him yesterday," Charles Howell said ahead of the Honda Classic. "He looked as good as he ever has. Seriously, he seemed like he was hitting it the same as he ever did." And reports that he had flown in his swing coach Hank Haney to Florida and enlisted former White House aide Ari Fleischer to deal with press enquiries only added fuel to the fire.

The suggestions that he would return to action at either the Tavistock Cup or Arnold Palmer Invitational proved wide of the mark as the announcement came on Tuesday that he would emerge from hiding at the Masters in early April.

It is probably quite fitting that it is the Masters that he will make his return, given that Augusta was where he truly announced himself on the world stage with a staggering 12-stroke victory in 1997.

The media frenzy is likely to step up a gear in the weeks leading up to the Masters, and the rest of the tour are likely to grow sick of being asked what it feels like to have Tiger back, but that certainly beats being asked about how it feels not to have him on tour.

Now that we have word on when Woods will return we can let the media frenzy whip up into a crescendo, but after the Masters hopefully golf can get back to a semblance of normality with the world No. 1 being talked about for his exploits on the course.

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