When the passing of the years began to catch up on the great Gene Sarazen , he became wary of his role as a ceremonial starter at the Masters and expressed his concerns about becoming "an exhibit in a museum" to Augusta National chairman, Hord Hardin.

"Gene," responded Hardin. "The people don't want to see you play, they just want to see if you're still alive."

Here in 2015, the posses of patrons have poured into the gates of Augusta to see if the Tiger Woods of old is still alive. It's comeback number goodness knows what but he's here, he's ready and he's raring to go. We've heard all that before, of course, and the usual routine is for him to whip everybody into a frenzy, play a few holes of increasingly erratic and sometimes shambolic golf, hirple off the course holding his back and then disappear from sight for a few weeks.

Two months ago, he shuffled painfully away from Torrey Pines with his morale so low it could only be found through the process of fracking. Yesterday, in this happiest of hunting grounds, he was all smiles in a media centre that was as packed as the galleries that followed him for Monday's practice round. A question from the floor that began with the words 'no one's game is under more scrutiny that yours' was interrupted by a jovial 'really?' from a relaxed-looking Woods. The loose demeanour Woods had displayed since he pitched up on the driving range on Monday listening to music carried on into his pre-tournament blether with the golf scribblers.

Maybe it was the Georgia air? Augusta stirs the Tiger senses. His record busting 12 stroke victory in 1997 began this love affair and a further three wins, and six other top-five finishes, burnishes a shimmering body of work in this corner of the US of A. By his own admission, Woods has been working from dawn till dusk to make sure he got here.

"I worked my ass off," said Woods, in a statement that conjures up some interesting imagery and sounds more painful than the 'de-activated glutes' that affected his rear-end back in February. "People would never understand how much work I put into the comeback and to do this again. It was sun-up, sun-down and whenever I had free time. By the time the sun set, I should be a better player than I was when the sun came up and that was the case. That was the whole focus. We didn't need to make big, giant leaps, just get incrementally better. If the kids were asleep, I'd still be doing it and when they were at school, I'd still be doing it."

Even when his bairns, Sam and Charlie, were careering about him, Woods was still doing it. "When I was hitting balls, they'd pick flowers, play tag, run around, play obstacle," said Woods, who will have his two children acting as caddies during today's easy going Par 3 contest. " We had a lot of games. It was a lot of work and there were times when there were a few clubs that flew out of my hands and travelled some pretty good distances. There were some frustrating moments but I had to stick to it. We have spent a lot of time on this and a lot of time and it's finally paying off."

As he clambers towards his 40s, Woods knows he is an elder statesman among the golfing young guns. The competitive fire remains, though, and second best is not a phrase that appears in the Woods dictionary even if some of his fairly desperate performances over these last few turbulent months wouldn't have looked out of place at the Scottish Golf Writers' championship.

"I'm still trying to beat everybody," added the 14 times major champion. "I prepare to win and expect to do that. That doesn't change. I want to win. The whole idea is to prepare and do that and I feel like my game is finally ready to go and do that again. The only difference is that I won the Masters when Jordan (Spieth) was still in diapers. The guys are now younger and a whole other generation of kids are coming out. Yes, I'm feeling older, there's no doubt about that. Try chasing a six and seven-year-old around all day. You start feeling it ...the good news is my soccer game has got a lot better."

Having been dunted off his throne by the young prince, Rory McIlroy, Woods appreciates the magnitude of the Northern Irishman's achievements . Should McIlory win this week he will join Woods as one of only five players to win the career Grand Slam.

"I look back to I did it myself in 2000 and I couldn't have asked for a better place to do it than at St Andrews, the home of golf," reflected Woods. "For Rory, you couldn't ask for the other best place to do it, Augusta. But he's going to have these opportunities for decades to come. I'm sure he'll have many green jackets in his closet before it's all said and done."

Woods was almost all said and done too but there was one final statement of intent. Asked what his greatest motivation was, Woods mulled it over before delivering his succinct response. "My greatest motivation?," he pondered . "Winning ... I like it."

Woods had lured everybody in with his tantalising ponderings of his prospects. Once again we wait to see of the Tiger of old is still alive.