Sorry Patrick Reed, Tiger Woods’ return is the story of The Masters

Patrick Reed won The Masters but moments after he donned the green jacket, the conversation turned to Tiger Woods who played in his first major since 2015.

Tiger Woods finished +1 and tied for 32nd place at The Masters but this was a rousing success for arguably the greatest golfer of all time in spite of the outcome.

This marked the first time Tiger was able to tee it up in a major since the 2015 PGA Championship. For a while, it looked like Tiger’s back injuries and subsequent surgeries would force him into early retirement. His health had betrayed him. His game rusty and in need of overhauling and retooling his swing and approach followed.

With 14 Major championships on his resume and a reputation as the utmost competitor, you wouldn’t expect Tiger to start claiming a moral victory, but this is exactly what happened over the last four days at Augusta National.

Tiger may not admit it, but the story wasn’t that Patrick Reed won The Masters ahead of Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth, rather it was Woods finishing with a 69 to close with some momentum he can take into his next tournament.

This marks a significant achievement for Tiger who could barely stand, let alone take one of the greatest walks in golf. Now that he has his health on his side, Tiger just needs to keep playing and knock the rust off.

It won’t happen overnight, and Tiger is going to take the next three or four weeks off as he’s done in the past after The Masters to regroup and make sure he’s strong for his next run.

His nice finish on Sunday is a clear sign he’s not far off.

He needs to play more holes. He needs to take more swings. He just needs to be more consistent after an up and down four rounds.

"“I felt I hit it well enough off the tee to do some things,” Woods said. “But I hit my irons awful for the week. I had so many opportunities to hit the ball close and didn’t do it. And if you miss a shot just a touch here, it gets magnified. Like on 18 today, I hit such a beautiful, high 7-iron, and it was a foot away from being back down the hill [toward the pin]. Instead, I got this putt that you’ve got to hit sideways.”"

Just imagine how much better Tiger will feel once he gets those extra rounds in. I envision Tiger making a run on the final round at the U.S. Open in June. I have hopes he’ll be able to compete in The Open and The PGA Championship later in the summer.

Next: Best shots in the history of The Masters

Golf is better with Tiger competing for championships, especially majors, and I think we’re a couple of months away from that happening again.

What once looked like it may never happen again suddenly looks plausible, if not inevitable.