Tiger Woods Back into Golf Action

Tiger Woods has an ideal tee time for his return to golf at the Masters — at least as far as TV is concerned.

After weeks of speculation about his playing partners for the opening two rounds at Augusta National, the starting times released Tuesday had more to do with "when" than "who."

Woods is to tee off at 10:42 a.m. (PDT), Thursday in the penultimate group. Barring any delays, his group likely will be on about the eighth hole when ESPN's live coverage begins at 1 p.m.

The Masters will let ESPN show Woods' first tee shot live, but after that his play will be relegated to the several-minutes-long cut-ins "SportsCenter" will show throughout the day until 1 p.m.

Woods hasn't competed since a shocking sex scandal began to unfold the day after Thanksgiving.

The so-called experts can't seem to get together on what to expect from Woods in his first tournament, the Masters, after nearly five months of being tabloid fodder. Some have said that he could be a contender and perhaps even win, while others are of the opinion that he might not even make the cut in his first event since winning the Australian Masters in his last outing in November.

Last year, after missing eight months following knee surgery, he was knocked out of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship by Tim Clark in the second round. Then he tied for ninth in his first stroke-play event, the WGC-CA Championship, before winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational his next time out. Twice, Woods has gone nine weeks without competing before showing up at a major championship.

In 2006, he tied for third in the Masters and did play again until the U.S. Open at Winged Foot because of the death of his father, and he missed the cut in a major for the first time in his pro career. Two years ago, Woods had a preliminary surgery on his right knee after finishing second at Augusta and returned to win his 14th major title by outlasting Rocco Mediate in an epic 19-hole playoff in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Only Ben Hogan, in 1951 and 1953, has made the Masters his first tournament of the year and won it. In addition to owning four Green Jackets, he has 10 top-10 finishes in 15 appearances at Augusta National, including four in a row since his last victory in 2005.