Special feature

Masters breakdown Rotoworld.com's Rob Bolton analyzes the top contenders for the Masters, to be played April 9-12 at Augusta National. NBCSports.com

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updated 3:02 a.m. ET April 4, 2009

For some, golf does not begin until Arnold Palmer's ceremonial tee shot on Thursday to start the Masters. Here are 10 issues in golf over the three months leading to the Masters:

1. Tiger Returns
Tiger Woods had not been seen inside the ropes since beating Rocco Mediate in a playoff at the U.S. Open last June, and the first two months were dominated by speculation when he might return. At the Buick Invitational, where Woods was the three-time defending champion, tournament officials were criticized for putting Woods' image on the program cover, tickets and newspaper ads, despite knowing he would not return in time for the Feb. 5-8 event.

Woods' son was born Feb. 8. Eleven days later, Woods posted a message on his Web site that read, "I'm now ready to play again.''

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said upon his return to the Accenture Match Play Championship, "Tiger coming back after being gone for ... what was it? Four, four-and-a-half years now?'' For the tour, it sure felt that long.

2. Lefty Revival
Phil Mickelson didn't go anywhere, but it sure seemed like that. Woods' season-ending knee surgery set the stage for Mickelson to win the money title, player of the year, the Vardon Trophy and move to No. 1 in the world - none of which he had ever achieved in his career.

But he only seriously contended in two tournaments, neither a major.

The day Woods announced his return, Mickelson shot 62 at Riviera and went on to his first victory since Woods' surgery. Three weeks later, Mickelson won at Doral in Woods' return to stroke play.

That led to speculation that win or lose, golf isn't as much fun without Woods around.

3. The economy
In the first three months of the year, the PGA Tour lost title sponsors in Milwaukee (after this year) and Phoenix (after next year), and sued Ginn Resorts for ending its contract early for a Fall Series event in Florida. The tour renewed deals with Travelers (Hartford) and Accenture (Match Play). The tour has nearly 20 title sponsorships that expire in 2010.

"It would be unrealistic to think that we're not going to have turnover, we're not going to have problems,'' Finchem said.

4. Players doing more to help
Finchem sent a video message to the players last December asking them to consider adding tournaments to their schedule to show support for the title sponsors. But through three months, there has been little evidence of that.

Tiger Woods was criticized for not announcing until Friday the week before Doral that he would play in the CA Championship. Two weeks later, the world's No. 1 player hosted a breakfast and clinic for the CEOs of at least a dozen companies that are PGA Tour title sponsors.

5. New kids on the block
Anthony Kim won twice on the PGA Tour and starred in the Ryder Cup, and suddenly, kids were popping up all over the place.

Danny Lee, an 18-year-old Korean native who lives in New Zealand, became the youngest U.S. Amateur champion in history and then won a European Tour event against a field that included Sergio Garcia. Rory McIlroy, 19, won the Dubai Desert Classic and even received an endorsement from Woods as a future No. 1. Ryo Ishikawa of Japan, all of 17, has already won three times as a pro.

That's three teenagers at the Masters, where the 96-man field will include 28 players under the age of 30.

6. World ranking
The Official World Golf Ranking has improved substantially over the last several years, but it is under greater scrutiny than ever.

A record-low 17 Americans qualified for the Accenture Match Play Championship. Part of that is because players in other countries happen to be good golfers, but some players wondered how Brendan Jones was the No. 64 seed when he couldn't come close to keeping his PGA Tour card the two years he played.

Going into the Masters, there are 14 Americans in the top 40.

When the world ranking was first published for the 1986 Masters, there were 31 Americans among the top 50.