Tiger Woods Returns

After almost 9 months of inactivity, Tiger Woods is finally back on the golf scene. Today marked his first official practice since he had knee surgery last June. He teed off at 7am this morning at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Arizona. Tiger started his round with an audience of over 100 photographers and reporters. He seemed to be swinging in good form, hitting 8 of his first 9 fairways.

In an interview with ESPN, Phil Mickelson, who also was practicing in Marana, commented on the large crowd. "I came here for a Tuesday practice round, and as I'm walking to the range, I've never seen so many cameras and photographers and so forth, especially that early in the morning, waiting for Tiger to get there." Tiger had practiced several times this year, but this was the first open to reporters. He recently practiced in Las Vegas, and he also practiced at his home early this year, as well.

Many golf fans are not looking forward to his comeback because he has been so dominant. His recent leave did give more opportunities for other golfers succeed, but no specific golfer stepped to the plate. Many fans believed Phil Mickelson would take over the domination role, but he did not. If anything, Tiger's absence hurt the sport because it lowered media attention. Golf was not shown on sports websites to the same extent as when he was playing. Tiger is a great addition to golf, and his dominant role has led to golf's increasing popularity over the last 10 years.