Bank on It: Tiger Will Return to Golf Sooner than Later

Can we talk? Despite everything, ranging from his marital woes to his ties with a doctor busted for steroids, there is no way Tiger Woods misses the glory stretch of the upcoming PGA Tour season. More specifically, he'll travel to Augusta in April to do more than just watch the blooming of dogwoods and azaleas.

He'll play in the Masters. Chances are, he'll play before that, just to prepare for the chance to pull on his fifth green jacket.

Then, with the drama out of the way surrounding his first major tournament since the start of those ugly revelations, he'll move on with the rest of his golfing life, especially regarding trips to Pebble Beach (U.S. Open), St. Andrews (British Open) and Kohler, Wis. (PGA Championship).

But let's return to the Masters, the always perfect venue for the intensely private Woods, and maybe you've heard: He has vanished since he supposedly damaged his face after he crashed his Escalade into a bunch of stuff on Thanksgiving weekend. He knows that the public scrutiny that he is trying to avoid only will explode during his next few appearances on the tour. I mean, in the past, he couldn't handle a stray noise or a sudden movement after he addressed the ball, and you just know that his already wired galleries will get louder and bolder in the future.

The exception? Augusta National, where those who run the place are notoriously ruthless when it comes to unruly spectators and media folks who don't follow the Masters' famously stringent rules.

Woods could go to the place and just ... golf.

If you haven't really studied Woods' nearly 34 years on earth, let's start with something huge: He once made the promise to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do us part. No, I'm not talking about his 5-year-old marriage vows to Elin Nordegren. This reference is to the game of golf, Woods' significant other since he whacked balls on national television in front of his father, Earl, along with Mike Douglas and Bob Hope at the age of 2.

Tiger may love his wife -- and I stress "may," given the avalanche of women who have surfaced since his November 27 crash to claim that they've had intimate dealings with Woods -- but he definitely loves golf.

The man actually is obsessed with golf. Among other things, the spirit of his deceased father still dominates his soul.

Earl Woods proclaimed boldly that his mission was to turn Tiger into the greatest person ever to drive, chip and putt for a living. The father even urged his son not to marry, because he said it would hinder his pursuit of golfing immortality.

While Tiger defied Earl on that marriage thing, the son never lost his desire to fulfill the rest of his father's wishes. That's why, despite sitting a couple of stratospheres above the elite of the elite in his profession, Woods kept changing his swing to become even more otherworldly. That's why he ignored the throbbing in his left knee during the 2008 U.S. Open to win a playoff on one leg. That's why he returned from reconstructive surgery on that knee this past season to win six tournaments along the way to grabbing his second FedEx Cup as the tour's No. 1 player.

That's why you should yawn over much of what Woods placed on his Web site about taking an "indefinite break" from golf.

Wrote Tiger: "I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but I want to do my best to try. After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."

Yeah, well. It sounds good.

Mostly, it sounds like what Woods has to say to pave the way for his inevitable appearance before the Oprah crowd.

If you believe the reports, Woods will climb into his yacht with his wife and two small children for a trip to Nordegren's native land for that family bonding. Whatever the case, and wherever he goes, you can bet he'll take his Nike clubs and a bucket of balls with him. In others words, don't be shocked if somebody snaps a few aerial shots of the guy firing three-irons into the middle of the Atlantic .

He'll play in the Masters, all right, because Woods is obsessed with trying to win major championships in particular. He has Jack Nicklaus to catch. While Nicklaus has the all-time mark with 18 such victories, Woods has been stuck on 14 since that U.S. Open title 18 months ago. That gap will stretch to 22 months (an eternity for Woods) by the time the Masters rolls around.

For every major that Tiger skips, he knows that is another opportunity lost, not only to surpass Nicklaus' record, but to destroy it.

There also are those sponsors who Sports Illustrated said contributed to $92 million of the $99.7 million that Woods made overall last year. Accenture dropped him, and others such as AT&T are waffling. But he'll still have more than enough sponsors in the aftermath not to stand in somebody's soup line any time soon.

That is, if Tiger is playing.

Take the contrasting statements on Monday from Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer, for instance. Earlier in the day, a company spokesperson told the Associated Press that Tag Heuer would stick with Woods despite his problems because he is "the best in his domain." Later, the company released a statement that said it was examining its long-term relationship with Woods because of his indefinite leave from golf.

So Tiger has to keep playing, but only if he wishes to keep getting paid by the millions instead of the thousands.

Then you have PGA officials and Woods' peers. They need him as much as he needs them. If nothing else, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem will knock on Woods' door sooner than later, drop to his knees and beg him to play.

The Tour's total purse has gone from $56 million in 1994 before Tiger's arrival to more than $260 million in recent years. According to Forbes magazine, when Woods returned to the Tour this season after his knee surgery, TV ratings jumped 136 percent. And get this: the Tour's six-year deals with CBS and NBC expire in 2012. Negotiations are expected to begin at the start of next year.

I don't know about January for Woods' return, but I do know about April.

Tiger knows, too.

He just can't say it.