While The Masters has always been the crown jewel of the U.S. golf season, this year’s tournament at Augusta National may draw even more attention than usual.
That’s because Tiger Woods is part of the roster for the first time since 2014. And what’s more -- some say he has a shot at winning!
“[This] would be the all-time greatest individual athlete comeback,” said Charles Curtis, writer at “For The Win.” “Think about where Tiger’s been. He was at the top of the world for so long as one of maybe the greatest golfers to ever play the game.”
Then came the fall from grace. His personal life was splashed across the tabloids and he had several surgeries for injuries to his knee and back that pulled him out of the game for years.
Now, he has the opportunity to claw his way out of the depths.
“For him to...come back from all that would be, I think, even better than what Lance Armstrong did,” said Curtis.
Woods got through four rounds at a tournament in December pain-free. Curtis said that’s a major accomplishment for someone who said, “couldn’t get out of bed some days.”
The former world #1 has also been making headway at other events, including the Valspar Championship where he finished second.
“Even though his swing’s a little bit different than it was during his prime, he looks like somebody who could win a golf tournament.”
Woods’ return is so eagerly watched that in the past few weeks, Curtis says, golf tournaments have garnered more interest.
The Masters kicks off Thursday and goes on through Sunday.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/tiger-woods-roars-back).
Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini joined Cheddar's Kristen Scholer to discuss plans for the future even as COVID-19 upended Barstool's sponsorship of the Arizona Bowl featuring the Boise State Broncos and the Central Michigan Chippewas due to the spreading omicron variant. "In our case as a company, coronavirus has been a big boom for us," she noted. "We've been able to create a lot of new programming, launch a lot of different personalities, and frankly take share from traditional media, and that's what we've done the entire pandemic." While she admitted to taking a hit on the canceled Bowl game, live events aren't completely off the table for Barstool in 2022. Nardini also talked about potential sports betting expansion following its partnership with Penn National Gaming.
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Eric Mitchell, Sports Analyst and President & CEO of LifeFlip Media, breaks down the updated rules around testing in the NFL and outlines how vaccinated players are impacted by new return-to-play guidelines.
Carlo and Baker kick off the weirdest week of the year with all the news you missed over the holiday weekend, including calls for the CDC to shorten its isolation window as Omicron sweeps through the country.
The 2022 Winter Olympics will be without some of hockey's biggest players. The NHL and the NHL Player's Association have agreed to not participate in the men's hockey tournament at the Games in Beijing next year. The league has been forced to postpone some games because of a rise in COVID-19 cases among players. Washington Post sports reporter Samantha Pell joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the Winter Olympics and the sport of hockey.
Former professional tennis player Patrick McEnroe joined Cheddar to discuss the troubling issues surrounding player Peng Shuai who appeared potentially to have been silenced following her social media post accusing former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. Shuai's subsequent disappearance, reappearance, and apparent retraction of the accusation in an interview only added to worries. "When this happened, all of us in the tennis community were very concerned. And, by the way, another thing Peng said in this interview was that she doesn't speak very good English," McEnroe noted. "Well I can assure you, she speaks darn good English, 'cause I spoke to her on many occasions over the last 15 years."
Carlo and Baker cover the heartening news on the Covid front ahead of the holiday, plus President Biden punting student loan repayments again, a new space telescope and Love, Hate, Ate: Christmas Eve Eve Edition!
The boys discuss President Biden's plans to send out free rapid tests as the testing supply chain starts to buckle ahead of the holidays. Also, why aren't Americans having more babies, and The Matrix returns.
