Tiger Woods’ magical mystery comeback tour rolls into the Greenbrier Classic

Perhaps Tiger Woods ought to take advantage of the world-renowned mineral spa at The Greenbrier Resort as his bid to rebound from a season of “worst evers” continues at this week’s Greenbrier Classic.

Certainly, “taking the waters” in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., couldn’t hurt the struggling superstar, who may want to try something new to revive his sputtering career after he posted the highest 36-hole score of his career at Chambers Bay and missed his first U.S. Open cut since 2006.

Despite a spectacular swoon that has dropped him from No. 1 in the world last May to his current 220th ranking -- thanks largely to a second-round 82 and missed cut in Phoenix, a first-round withdrawal at Torrey Pines and an opening-round 10-over 80 in Washington state -- Woods remains the marquee attraction for this and every week’s PGA Tour stop.

“We’ve got to have Tiger,” Jim Justice, owner of the Greenbrier, said after Woods committed to playing at his tournament for the first time since 2012, according to Roanoke.com. “Tiger is one of the biggest stars in all of sport, and he brings significant attention to any event he enters.”

With newly crowned 2015 Travelers champ Bubba Watson, 2010 British Open champ and 2015 U.S. Open runner-up Louis Oosthuizen, and fan favorite John Daly just some of the high-profile names also making starts at the Greenbrier, any other player who shot 80-76 and missed his national championship cut by a whopping 11 shots would be filler at a golf event rather than the headliner. But until that guy loses his spot as the main man on the tour website’s “Players” page and stops putting fannies in the seats at home and on the course, every tournament director echoes Justice’s sentiments.

If one can’t help but wonder how much longer competitions will woo Woods to their venues, listen to the cheers Gene Wojciechowski reported he heard from Tiger’s fans during his two days of official play in the great Northwest:

By now, the most casual of golf fans know the drill. Woods has gone from being the best player in the world who went a tour-record 142 starts between 1997 and 2005 without missing a cut, to his lowest standing on the tour since his rookie year. Once on a trajectory to pass Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major wins, Woods has many wondering if he’ll ever add No. 80 to his career total of 79 PGA Tour wins.

Until this season, Woods had only one career score of 80 or higher, and that came at the 2002 British Open when he carded an 81 in what observers described as the most horrific weather ever to hit an Open Championship. After shooting a then-career-worst 82 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open to miss the cut, a currently worst-ever 85 in the third round of the Memorial to finish last among those who made the cut, and the opening 80 at Chambers Bay, Woods now has four scores higher than 79 on his resume.

“On a golf course like this, you get exposed and you have to be precise and dialed in,” Woods said Friday from Chambers Bay, where he posted the worst 36-hole score to par in a major of his professional life. “And obviously I didn’t have that.”

Unfortunately for the scuffling former ace, even tracks he used to dominate (eight wins each at Torrey and Bay Hill, five at Muirfield Village) are unmasking each and every error in the flawed game of the 14-time major champion. It is stunning to realize, and shockingly sad to watch, the golfer who as recently as 2013 won five tour events fail to crack the top-15 in the last two seasons.

How to fix what ails Woods is the topic du jour whether Tiger’s playing on a particular week or not, and if there is a golf pundit in the world who has not weighed in with a cure-all, just wait. Opinions on the mysterious ills that plague Woods range from the seemingly simple (take more time off/play more golf, ditch fourth swing coach Chris Como/go back to Butch Harmon) to the more complex (hire a mental coach to rekindle his confidence) to the extreme (retire).

For now, Woods chooses to get more reps in competition and the Greenbrier will serve as his tuneup for the British Open two weeks later. He’ll take a week off after his start at St. Andrews, where he won in 2000 and 2005, then play his foundation’s Quicken Loans National event.

Though the PGA Championship is not on Woods’ schedule, it is difficult to imagine he would pass up another opportunity to nab that elusive 15th major -- or 16th, if the world turns upside down and he prevails at The Old Course. Only the top 60 in the world qualify for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the week before the PGA, and it’s highly unlikely he would opt to play in the opposite tour event, the Barracuda Championship in Reno, while the big boys are teeing it up at Firestone.

Also improbable -- barring a complete turn-around in his overall game -- is Woods making it to the FedEx Cup playoffs. The top 125 golfers are eligible for the first leg, The Barclays.

The Aug. 27 start at Plainfield Country Club is only two months away and Woods has to start somewhere. The Greenbrier Classic, where he scored 71-69 and missed the cut by a stroke in his only previous appearance, is his next best shot at rebounding from a slump that, just two years ago, nobody saw coming.

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