Bob MacIntyre backs ‘superhuman’ Tiger Woods for a Masters miracle

For Bob MacIntyre, Tiger Woods is golf’s standard bearer and the prospect of teeing it up at the Masters alongside the five-time winner is something akin to the holy grail for the Scot.

The man from Oban finished tied for 12th on his Masters debut last year, a startling performance which secured a return invitation to the 86th edition of the tournament which begins on Thursday.

Speculation has been rife in recent days that Woods could also be at Augusta National this week in what would be a comeback of epic proportions.

It has been 14 months since the car crash which almost led to his right leg being amputated after the 46-year-old suffered open fractures to the upper and lower portions of his tibia and fibula in the single vehicle accident.

The recovery process has been slow and painful but Twitter was ablaze last week when plane-trackers spotted Woods’ private jet heading toward Augusta.

He duly played a practice round with his son Charlie and Justin Thomas and, according to the Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard, Tiger’s golf game is “all back”.

“He’s almost superhuman,” said MacIntyre. “He’s doing everything that he can. He loves the game of golf. For me personally, he’s created the world of golf we’re playing in now - the prize money, the way the golf tournaments are set up.

“I get that the older guys like Jack Nicklaus gave him the opportunity but, for me, Tiger created the environment we’ve got now. You just need to look at the hype he’s brought. As soon as that plane took off from Georgia, there were guys following it on plane trackers. He creates a different hype that no-one else can.

“How cool would it be to play Augusta with Tiger Woods?

“Hopefully he can play and hopefully he can get round. He’s giving it his best