It has been a decade since Tiger Woods first erupted on to the Masters scene, but he believes the ripple effects of that shockwave are still spreading.
AUGUSTA (GEORGIA): It has been a decade since Tiger Woods first erupted on to the Masters scene as a raw 21-year-old, but he believes the ripple effects of that shockwave are still spreading.
The American's record 12-stroke victory in 1997 gave golf a massive shot in the arm, firstly on the home front in the United States and later, as his achievements accumulated and celebrity spread, throughout the world.
The sport itself has become more athletic and more powerful with 300-yard plus drives now routine rather than the preserve of Woods and John Daly.
Still, the world No. 1 believes that the full extent of the legacy he has brought to the game of golf remains to be seen.
"Still way too early," he replied when asked if he was surprised that there were not more minorities playing on the tour than when he joined the ranks of the professionals in 1996.
"All of the clinics that I do around the country, the kids are younger, more athletic, bigger, stronger, faster. Some of the guys that I've seen are former baseball and football and basketball players. They are not just strictly golfers."
"That was not the case when I was playing junior golf. Golf was looked down on as a wussy sport and no one ever played it. It helps when you get celebrities out there like (Michael) Jordan who everybody views as iconic. If he loves the game of golf, youngsters think there's got to be something to it."
Still, Woods says he is aware that his arrival on the scene engendered fundamental changes in the way golf is played and the equipment it is played with, not to everyone's satisfaction.
Now the emphasis and priority is on countering the raw power and distance that he helped to bring to the game and promoting the old skills of feel and touch.
"I guess it's all my fault," Woods said with a wry smile.
"When I first started I was percentage-wise a lot longer that the rest of the field. Now there are guys who are longer than me," he said.
"At the time, maybe John Daly was a little bit longer than me, but that was about it."
At the same time, Woods said that he has greatly changed himself over the last decade as his rivals have scrambled to match his abilities.
First there was the physical side of things as he parted company with long-time coach Butch Harmon and re-modelled his swing, then the psychological with the death of his father Earl last year, his marriage and the pending birth of his first child in the summer.
"I was certainly raw in '97," he said. "My course management skills, my shot variety. I didn't really have too many shots. My life was totally different then than it is now, with the whole family situation. My father is gone now and I'm expecting a child myself."
"My whole life has changed and it's been a pretty dynamic change."
One thing that has not changed, however, is that once again Woods will tee-off on Wednesday as a hot favourite to win what would be his fifth Masters green jacket.
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