Five players can go to No. 1 in the world by winning the Masters. Another can complete the career Grand Slam with a green jacket. Such is the depth of talent these days in golf on the eve of the first major of the year.

And such is the power of five words at 10:34 a.m. Thursday that are sure to overshadow everything else on the opening day of the 86th Masters.

For all its youth — the top seven players in the world are 30 or younger — golf still isn’t ready to let go of its past, especially when that past is Woods and there was every reason to wonder if he would ever compete at this level again.

Along with images of Woods slipping on any of his five green jackets are those of his crumpled SUV at the bottom of a hill in suburban Los Angeles from his harrowing crash 14 months ago that left him confined to a hospital bed for three months.

Woods is back — again — and the 90 other players at Augusta National feel like nothing more than an afterthought until scores are posted.

Woods is grouped with Oosthuizen and Niemann for the opening two rounds. On the other side of the course, both sides of the 15th fairway were lined with spectators to watch Woods take two shots with his fairway metal to reach the green. They followed him in. Practice tickets are only for one day. 

Rain interrupted the final day of practice after about three hours and cleared up in time for the start of the Par 3 Tournament, the first time that was held since 2019 because of the pandemic. Storms halted this edition of the Par 3.

And then the curtain rises on the Masters which has rarely held so much intrigue.

Scheffler is the new No. 1 in a world of golf so balanced at the top that Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay and Cameron Smith have a mathematical chance to replace him.

This is different from other years in which only a few of golf’s best players have anything to show for it. Scheffler is the only player who has won this year while ranked among the top 10. Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas have gone more than a year without winning,

Rory McIlroy is not on that list, though he can claim something far greater. The Masters is all that keeps him from becoming the sixth player to have won all four majors.