Slippery slopes and downhill plummets?

They are phrases that could be used to describe the fluctuating career fortunes of both Tiger Woods and his skiing girlfriend Lindsey Vonn. At least Vonn has been heading in the right direction of late. She's won three of her last four races over the past week on the pistes. Woods, meanwhile, looked decidedly piste off. No wonder. He turned up in Italy to watch one of Vonn's victorious hurtles with a tooth missing.

Can the toothless Tiger get his bite back in 2015? That's the question that's spewing forth as the former world No 1 - with a full complement of pearly whites again - makes his first start of the PGA Tour season at tomorrow's Waste Management Phoenix Open in what is another of his 'comeback specials'. With the Superbowl also taking place in Phoenix this week, there's plenty going on in the Valley of the Sun. Will it be a new dawn for Woods, though?

As ever, the interest, the intrigue and the infatuation will be at fever pitch as eager observers analyse every swing, swoosh, step and shot with the kind of intricate detail usually reserved for an MRI scan.

For the first time since 2001, Woods is teeing up in the Phoenix event as he tries to rise again like, well, a phoenix from the golfing ashes. A tentative return in the 18-man field contesting the Hero World Challenge in early December was hardly earth shattering; he finished 18th.

Given that he had been out of action since August prior to that, it was hardly surprising that he was as rusty as a decommissioned frigate but an alarming haul of over half a dozen duffed chips during that World Challenge was, by all accounts, the worst short game performance we have witnessed from the 14-time major winner.

"I've just gotta work," he said at the time, as he was given a clear focus on the work he needed to do over the off-season period.

Woods's record in his debut appearances of the season down the years makes for impressive reading. Since his first full season on the PGA circuit in 1997, he's won the first event on his calendar seven times. In 18 of those opening tournaments, he's been in the top-10 a total of 14 times.

So what can we expect this week? Some will say there is more likelihood of him emulating the share of 80th place he had in his first event of 2014 than there is of him barging into the top-10. The question that tends to pop up these days is not "will he win the tournament?" but rather "will he make the cut?"

If he makes the cut - and makes it without exhibiting any pain from the back surgery that he had last year - then a solid finish would be seen as a positive step in the right direction. The 39-year-old has five events between now and the Masters in April to build up a head of steam and show that he can come back for good.

Here we go again.