Wednesday with Tiger: Final preparations

PGATOUR.com's Brian Wacker explains that the wait is just about over for Tiger Woods' official return to golf. Woods made his final preparations Wednesday, playing a rare practice round on the eve of the Masters. Though many speculated that he would, Woods decided not to partake in the Par-3 Contest.

By Brian Wacker, Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The readiness is all. At least it is for Tiger Woods, who played a rare Wednesday practice round at Augusta National in his final preparation for the Masters.

Woods played just nine holes, going off the first tee at 8 a.m. with Mark Some for a second straight day. It's been six years since Woods last played the day before the year's first major.

Of course, this year is different than any other for Woods. He has been under heavy scrutiny since his Nov. 27 car accident and has not played since before that at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China some five months ago.

Much of the attention on Woods during that time has focused on his life outside the ropes. Thursday, it will turn to what goes on inside them when Woods tees off at 1:42 p.m. ET with K.J. Choi and Matt Kuchar.

In the meantime, the last three days have provided if nothing else at least a glimpse at Woods' game, which looked very rusty on Monday and progressively better as the week wore on.

Woods' game still wasn't without its issues, though. On the second hole Wednesday, for example, Woods badly pulled his second shot into the trees on the left. There were a number of other pulls for Woods, too, including on the 10th hole on his first tee shot of the day Monday.

In other words, Woods needed all the reps he could get.

Those reps, however, did not include the annual Par-3 Contest, despite some early reports by various outlets to the contrary. Woods has not participated in that event since 2004 when he played with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. 

In terms of assessing Woods' game compartmentally, the driver is still the driver -- meaning it can get wild on him -- but the ball-striking was considerably better by Wednesday morning. Putting? It looked good but not great, as did the rest of his short game.

The key for Woods, as cliche as it sounds, will be getting off to a good start, something Woods hasn't always had here. In the last five years, Woods has shot par twice and broke par just once (last year he opened with a 70 before finishing in a tie for sixth).

The last time Woods played a Wednesday practice round? He shot 75 and went on to tie for 22nd .

So what can we expect from Woods Thursday afternoon? That's as much a guessing-game as the speculation about his private life. But it's also a question that will be answered soon enough.