Tiger Woods announced Tuesday that he will end his hiatus from golf with a return to the scene of his first major win, playing the Master’s tournament in Augusta, Ga., in April. This will be his first match since a November, 2009, car accident and reported altercation with his wife, Elin, on his property that led to admissions of infidelity with several women and rehab for sex addiction.

Tiger says he’s ready to come back, and the Masters is where he wants to do it.

The Masters is where I won my first major, and I view this tournament with great respect. After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta.

The major championships have always been a special focus in my career and, as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be, even though it’s been awhile since I last played.

I have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy, and I am continuing my treatment. Although I’m returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life.

With Tiger at Augusta National the security detail at The Masters could really earn their pay. The course has strict policies on spectator behavior, which will hopefully deter anyone hoping to get her jollies by yelling a piece of her mind at Woods. The Tournament website says that courtesy and respect, etiquette and decorum are required. Protests are prohibited and there is a no-autograph policy.

Not a bad place for Tiger to step back in, right?

But will these policies really stop the spectators from making a spectacle? Tiger has been the biggest thing in golf since, well, golf, and The Masters is the biggest tournament in the game. All eyes will be on Augusta. (The New York Post is reporting that he will return for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, March 25.)

Woods has reportedly been working with Hank Haney, a swing coach, and has also hired political (and sports, apparently,) spin doctor Ari Fleischer to help with his image upon his return to golf.

But can the viewing public separate the golfing Tiger from the cheating Tiger?

A couple of weeks ago while listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio he talked about the real victims of Tiger being the other players, and not just because of his recent infidelity. Take Phil Mickelson for instance. As the number two player in the world would you think he had been hurt by Tiger? Cowherd speculates that yes, he has. Unfortunately, Mickelson, in some circles, is thought of as a ‘disappointment’. Is three majors and 37 wins overall a disappointment? Only when you’re behind Woods, according to Cowherd. Phil’s only mistake was being born into the same generation.

Only time will tell whether the public, or Elin, will take Tiger back. The game of golf? Well, it’s on it’s own.

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