Wrong, Tiger, on Masters return

Tiger Woods says he'll return to golf at The Masters. I think Steve Stricker had this right in an ESPN interview. He should have come back earlier, at the Arnold Palmer or something, rather than inflict the media zoo on one of the four majors as his first tournament back.

And, that said, Bill Simmons also had it right; this shows that Tiger is still playing by his own rules. Not necessarily inside the confines of Augusta National, but on the streets, say, I hope Tiger gets a few boos.

Dan Wetzel has a take on that, and more, at Yahoo. First, he notes booing inside the galleries is VERY unlikely, due to Augusta's sense of decorum, the fact that passes are for the full event, not just one day, and have been passed down for years. Nobody will want to get a pass revoked, not just banned from the remainder of this year's event.

The scene outside the gates on the strip malls of Washington Road will be another thing, of course. That will be opportunist central. Television executives are predicting record viewership. And the throng of people following him will be enormous, even by Tiger standards.

That said, I still hope he does get booed outside the gates.

More interestingly, and insightfully, though, Wetzel compares Tiger to Kobe Bryant and the Colorado rape allegations for which he was tried. He notes Kobe never missed a Lakers game the whole time, and wonders if Tiger will have a more fragile psyche.