Inevitably, any talk surrounding The Masters this weekend is going to come back to Tiger Woods. It’s just the way of the beast these days, especially with the way the media seems magnetized by his struggles to rise from the ashes of his own Armageddon. Tiger himself needs to get back to winning, which is something he hasn’t done since 2009. More importantly, fans and the game itself need him to win as well.

I’m not talking to golf nuts, although those people should care too. There is a large and committed faction of avid golf fans who stick to the sport no matter what happens. And why wouldn’t they? Golf is a great game, and while it may be untrue to say that “Tiger is bigger than golf”, it’s certainly not unfair to say that he’s incredibly important to maintaining public interest in the sport.

There’s something about myself, golf and the art of not giving a crap that seem to mesh well these days. It’s not that the PGA is short on stories, because it isn’t. Maybe I’m just not as compelled by Phil Mickelson doing well as I am by Tiger Woods doing well.

The weird part is that I’m not alone. There’s something about my PGA bigotry that seems off-base and I will freely admit that. The sports patron in me says that I should appreciate the game not just because I play it, or because I enjoy it, but because you still get to enjoy watching the best hack their way through a course.

The Masters is the only tournament I actually force myself to watch all the way through because it’s a beauty. I love seeing everyone struggle on the 12th hole. I love the tradition of the Green Jacket Ceremony, and I wish all sports did this to some degree just to see stuff like Derek Jeter handing the World Series Trophy to Tim Lincecum, or Kobe handing it to Derrick Rose with an under bite on his face. Tradition is part of what makes this weekend great.

It’s the one weekend where my girlfriend actually gets belligerent because it’s golf all day, every day for the entire weekend. She can put up with four hours of me screaming at a March Madness game between two schools she hasn’t even heard of. Watching an entire weekend of golf kills her, which tends to bring me some selfish joy.

Hell,I love golf. There’s just nothing about this upcoming season that is drawing me in, other than the age old watch for When Tiger Wins A Tournament. The oddsmakers still seem a bit scared of him, pegging him as the second favorite to win this weekend at +850, which is about right.

If Phil comes through as the +600 favorite, then he’ll tie Tiger for the most Masters Championships by any active player with four total wins. Couple that with the fact that Mickelson could vault to the top of the World Golf Ranking list with a victory and you should have some automatic drama.

Mickelson and Woods are never alone in the hunt for a major championship, and guys like Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Paul Casey will all be in the running. Did you know that Martin Kaymar is the world’s best golfer according to the rankings?

More importantly, do you even care?

See this is the problem I have with following the PGA. I don’t have time as a sports fan to keep up with all the major players. Like the majority of fair weather golf fans, I’m too invested in things like football, March Madness, the MLB season starting, NHL and NBA playoffs and the natural bombardment of everyday sports that I get to ingest. I know what’s relatively happening in the world of golf, but I don’t have the time to care that much about guys that are only going to be at the top for a few years. And I watch sports for a living.

I don’t think that I have to be apologetic for not really caring that much about Martin Kaymar or Lee Westwood. The fact is that I would care about these guys, if they were challenging Tiger Woods at his best. It’s impossible for anyone to argue that Tiger has been playing like his old self, and the fact that he’s in this strange personal and professional overhaul is unfortunately the biggest thing going in the game.

Aside from Phil, who is about as downright loveable and endearing as you get in golf, there simply isn’t enough star power with the young guns to make me care about the PGA. I need to see Tiger dominating because that’s what made the PGA Tour intriguing. It made it fun. Again, I don’t believe I’m alone in this line of thinking.

In fact I know I’m not. Neilson ratings for the PGA Tour double when Tiger plays.

Tiger’s unworldly consistency at The Masters is what keeps me coming back. A fifth victory this weekend would put him in sole second place ahead of Arnold Palmer and behind the immortal Jack Nicklaus in the all-time list of champions. Of all the majors, The Masters is where Tiger flourishes the most. He has nine top-5 finishes in 16 appearances, and hasn’t appeared lower than tied for sixth since he last won in 2005.

There are a dozen other story lines that people could probably email me about to follow this weekend, but there are only two I care about, and both involve Tiger and Phil. Rivalries are what make sports fun for me, and without Tiger playing like Tiger it doesn’t make for much of a competition, which is weird to say when it should make The Masters a bigger draw since it’s wide open.

Golf purists will say otherwise and I get that. It’s just that I don’t care. Wake me up when Tiger is winning again.

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