During the Masters, the first tee at Augusta National Golf Club is always surrounded by "patrons," as the club refers to its ticket-holders.
The crowd is usually at least a dozen or more people deep, turning the tee into an enclosed area. But on April 8 - when Tiger Woods returns to competition in the first round of the first major of the year - the crowd will reach to and fill the great lawn behind the ropes 20 yards away, and beyond to the stately white colonial clubhouse, perhaps another 30 yards, and up to the balconies on its upper floors.
At the same time, spectators will line the first fairway all the way to the green 445 yards away, and circle it.
It's no exaggeration to say the world will be watching.
Even Wall Street will grind to a halt, as it did when Woods, looking puffy and uneasy, apologized for his off-course life in a televised statement last month.
The world's No. 1-ranked golfer made all this a certainty when he announced yesterday Augusta, Ga., would be where he would hit his first tee shot in competition since winning the Australian Masters last November - a win forgotten in the aftermath of Woods's early morning car crash in front of his Florida home on Nov. 27.
The bizarre event led to revelations of serial marital infidelities, and Woods's self-enforced removal from the game while he went through therapy (which continues).
The environment at Augusta National is tightly controlled, and it's not surprising Woods, who has won the Masters four times, elected to begin his comeback there. Hecklers, should there be any, will likely be relieved of their Masters badges forever.
The scene at the first tee in the opening round will be one of the most closely-watched moments in sport, ever.
Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and Sports, said last week: "I think the first tournament Tiger Woods plays again, wherever it is, will be the biggest media event other than the Obama inauguration in the past 10 or 15 years."
(McManus had to be smiling yesterday because, of course, CBS televises the Masters.)!
The combination of one of the most beautiful settings in golf paired with the buildup to the moment when Woods hits his opening drive, will generate an awesome buzz. But if silence can indeed be deafening, then that will be the case as Woods sets up over the ball.
And then, it will happen. The starter (a club member) will do the honours. Without a microphone, he will say (and you can be sure it will be a he, given Augusta National has no female members): "Fore please, Tiger Woods now driving."
And the moment the golf world has been waiting since the bizarre events of Nov. 27 unfolded, will have arrived.
As to how will Woods perform? That is anybody's guess.
A group of veteran golf writers gathered two weeks ago, during the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and lively debated this very point.
The consensus was a bit odd, in that all agreed it would be no surprise were Woods to return and win his first tournament by 10 shots. Equally, all agreed it would be no surprise were Woods to return and miss the cut.
Woods is heading into a situation as unpredictable as it is thrilling to golf-watchers and people who don't follow the sport except when he's playing.
He's demonstrated he can win a major after a layoff (the 2008 U.S. Open following arthroscopic knee surgery), but Woods isn't playing the Masters just to get back in the game. He wouldn't have decided to play Augusta if he didn't think he could win.
At the same time, it's difficult to imagine anybody perceiving him the same as a few months ago, because of his dramatic fall from grace. He's cast himself in an unseemly and even shocking light. Can he ignore the intense focus on him that will be there for reasons other than his golf game?
Woods once said he keeps his eyes forward and doesn't look at anybody between green and tee because he's not comfortable with what he called "all those eyeballs on me."
Eyeballs will be staring and glaring at him at Augusta National. Eyeballs will be trying to look into him and through him.
Will Woods be able to focus on winning his fifth green jacket? Or will he show a fragility and frailty on golf's biggest stage
Come April 8, we, and more important, Woods, with 14 major championships and chasing Jack Nicklaus's record of 18, will begin to answer these questions.
rube@sympatico.ca