Twenty years after the Bear’s Sunday afternoon fireworks propelled him to a sixth green jacket, the Tiger tees it up at Augusta National today in search of his fifth. And, but for a couple of so-so performances in recent weeks, Tiger Woods’s early-season form suggests he is poised to climb higher still on Jack Nicklaus’s 18-rung ladder.

If he does manage to overcome a typical Masters field comprised of twitchy amateurs, ceremonial past champions, a handful of contemporary stars with a genuine chance of winning, and a gaggle of A.N. Others who you suspect might not be able to control their breathing should they find themselves in contention on Sunday, Woods will not only move past Arnold Palmer on the list of Masters victories with his 11th, but also surge to within seven of Nicklaus’s record haul of majors. And if that weren’t incentive enough, the chance to honor his ailing father by dedicating another major triumph to the man he credits for much of his success might be another significant element in Tiger’s title defense.

In seven appearances this year, the 30-year-old world no. 1 has won three times – twice in America and once in Europe, well, Dubai. In addition to his sound all-round game, recent alterations to Augusta National – changes that club chairman Hootie Johnson says “keep [it] current with the times…and maintain its integrity,”- suggest the group of Masters invitees with realistic hopes of wresting the jacket from Tiger’s grip may well be dwindling.

Since last year, 155 yards have been added to Augusta National, bringing the total yardage up to 7,455 and making the course an insurmountable challenge for the sizeable group of golfers unable to carry the ball beyond 280 yards or stop a pitching wedge on a dime from 150.And with what the club refers to as the “second cut of fairway,” drastically limiting most players’ probability of stopping a ball on the putting surface from anywhere around the 200 yard mark, a long and wayward drive is a whole lot better than one that’s short and wayward.

Woods is driving the ball as inaccurately as ever (55.2% of fairways this year), but he is comfortably averaging more than 300 yards with his new SasQuatch driver. Perhaps even more significant, he’s leading the tour in finding the green from somewhere other than the fairway (66.4% of the time).

Despite Johnson’s assertions to the contrary, many former winners, Nicklaus and Palmer among them, argue the rough and narrow landing areas rob Augusta of its true character. Nicklaus, in fact, has said that too much emphasis is now put on long, straight driving and that Augusta isn’t the second-shot course Bobby Jones always wanted it to be. No longer are competitors lulled into a false sense of security by wide open spaces at which to aim off the tee – wide open spaces that cleverly concealed the optimum line, always determined by the position of the hole. Instead, they now look at fairways bordered by ever expanding bunkers and that seemingly incongruous band of rough.

The challenge, in fact, resembles more and more that of a U.S. Open venue than the Augusta National of yesteryear, when daring and imagination were of greater value than sustained and tenacious grinding.

Clearly, the impact of changes to the course will be substantial, but the weather will also play a major role in deciding the outcome, as it has the last few years. At the moment at least, forecasts suggest the sun will do its best to shine until Saturday, but during the third round, thunderstorms and rain are expected to move into the area. Together they might not only halt play briefly, but possibly create a course so wet that balls stop rolling on the fairway. Some players might then have a hard time reaching a couple of par-4s in two, let alone the par-5s.

Though the contingent of competitors capable of matching Tiger, rain or no rain, may be decreasing with every yard Augusta adds to its 18 holes, the group of heavy hitters who have the length and high trajectory approach shots the course demands includes a handful of players who possess green jackets of their own. After a slowish start to the season, 2004 champion Phil Mickelson may now be swinging the club as well as he ever has, if his incredible 28-under par performance at last week’s BellSouth Classic is anything to go by.

With its generous fairways, sparse rough, and nicely-paced putting surfaces, the TPC at Sugarloaf was a fairly inviting target for a player of Mickelson’s class. With the help of two drivers (a ploy he is likely to continue with this week), Lefty shot the fourth-lowest score in relation to par in Tour history and beat a quality field by 13 shots. Vijay Singh, the 2000 champion, has yet to show the form that won him the money title in 2003 and 2004, but he has six top-10s in eight starts this year and seems to have found some consistency on the greens at last (1.76 putts per green in regulation, 22nd on Tour).

No one, perhaps not even Woods, will be as eager to win as Ernie Els. The South African has yet to win the Masters, finishing in the top 25 nine times and the top five on three occasions in 12 attempts. Countryman Retief Goosen, though winless in America this year, has three top fives from five starts and, like Els, is ready for his first green jacket.

Two-time champion Jose-Maria Olazabal, admittedly not the longest of hitters (287.1 yards this year), certainly knows his way round Augusta and has two second-place finishes in 2006, including last week. Others who might not necessarily hit the ball as far or as high as the identikit Masters competitor include Luke Donald, Players Champion Stephen Ames, and last year’s runner-up, Chris DiMarco, who missed the cut by nine shots last week following a skiing injury sustained in March. DiMarco, however, relishes the challenge of playing the best on one of the world’s most brightly illuminated stages like no other.

The quality of Tiger’s adversaries and the combination of Augusta’s length and rough make predicting a winner tricky. Their length obviously gives Woods and his fellow bombers a distinct advantage, but the need for accuracy which the second cut of fairway and expanding bunkers call for, may just work against those heavy hitters who, to a man, have struggled the last few years to find the fairway even 50% of the time.

Ultimately, however, the factor that most influences the destiny of this year’s jacket may not be the type of game each player possesses but other, less tangible ingredients such as mental discipline and grim determination. Woods, of course, has no peer in either category.