Woods starts his three-week tour of England and Ireland by making his first appearance since 1998 in the HSBC World Match Play Championship, which offers the richest prize in golf among official events - about $1,87-million (about R8-million) to the winner.
More daunting is what lies behind Woods - a winning streak that began at the British Open in July and reached five straight tournaments two weeks ago in the Deutsche Bank Championship, where he shot 63 and rallied to beat nemesis Vijay Singh.
Woods plays the first round against former PGA champion Shaun Micheel. If he wins that 36-hole match, he would play the winner of Luke Donald-Tim Clark. And that could lead him to a showdown with Els, who first plays Angel Cabrera.
Els has plenty of scar tissue from his encounters with Woods, most of them losses. The South African has been runner-up to Woods seven times, more than any other player.
Woods is No 1 in the world ranking, but the No 2 seed at Wentworth. The top seed goes to defending champion Michael Campbell, who opened the tournament against Simon Khan of England.
In other first-round matches, David Howell played Colin Montgomerie; Retief Goosen played Paul Casey; Adam Scott played Mike Weir; and Jim Furyk played Robert Karlsson.
Title sponsor HSBC commissioned a professor to do an economic report on Woods' presence in England and Ireland this month, and the professor said he could boost the core golf economy by up to $320-million (about R2-billion).
"But match play is a strange game. It's a different game, and over 36 holes, the cream usually rises to the top. I would expect for Tiger to be in the final, wouldn't you?"
The only other time Woods has played this tournament was in 1998, when good friend Mark O'Meara beat him in the final match. That was at the tail end of his least productive year in golf when Woods was in the middle of overhauling his swing.
Woods has been wearing out his opponents with all facets of his game - his iron play at the British Open, his putting at the PGA Championship, his scrambling at Firestone, his driving at the Deutsche Bank Championship and a little bit of everything at the Buick Open.
Campbell isn't the least bit daunted. He already has shown his mettle against Woods when he ignored a charge at Pinehurst No 2 last year to win the US Open.
"He said to me, 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall.' So I'm going to take the attitude this week if I do come across him that he's a bigger steak right now.
"There's no way that there will be 15 guys lying down and saying, 'Tiger, you take the title.' I'm sure the other guys who do play Tiger will definitely try their best. It makes us more motivated to beat him."
The 16-man field includes seven players who will play in the Ryder Cup next week - Woods and Jim Furyk from the US team, Montgomerie, Howell, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Robert Karlsson.
The two weeks are nothing alike - the Ryder Cup matches feature partners and no prize money - but Montgomerie said it would be worth paying attention to how those seven players fare.
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