Masters week and the complete comeback of Tiger Woods

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It’s Masters week, and, as usual, there are story lines galore: Padraig Harrington trying to become the only golfer other than Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan to win three straight majors in the modern era, Phil Mickelson trying to become a three-time winner of the tournament; Gary Player teeing it up a record 52nd -- and final -- time.

But the reality is, there is only one story line. Will Tiger win? The answer: yes.

He’s certainly the favorite, 7-4 according to bodoglife.com. Mickelson is No. 2 at 7-1 and Harrington third at 16-1. But those are merely betting odds. It says here he’ll win because this is the tournament he has been pointing toward since undergoing knee surgery after winning the U.S. Open in June.

Woods is coming off a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where for the second year in a row he needed and drained a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole to finish first. He is No. 1 on the tour this year in average number of putts per round and No. 1 in scoring average. And he’s Tiger Woods.

Mickelson had won twice this year before missing the cut last week in Texas, but those first two rounds in Houston were played in a wind tunnel, conditions that aren’t suited to Mickelson’s stratospheric moonshots. He should be among the leaders this week at Augusta, where he won in 2004 and ’06 and has had nine top-10 finishes in the last 10 years.

Harrington ended last season with wins in the last two majors -- the British Open and PGA Championship -- without Woods in the field. But he’s finished fifth and seventh the last two years at Augusta.

Australian Geoff Ogilvy? He’s got two wins this year and is coming off a sixth-place finish last week. He might contend; he’s a popular choice because of his consistency and grit. Sergio Garcia? Can’t see his putting game holding up for four rounds at Augusta. Vijay Singh? Hasn’t come close this year.

There are a handful of players who could win this tournament. The prediction here is that Tiger Woods will make sure he’s the one who will. Yeah, it’s not exactly going out on a limb, but sometimes you just have to go with the favorite.

-- Mike James